The History of the 2008 United States men's Olympic basketball team
Going into the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing, things have probably never been bleaker for USA basketball. The US was embarassed on their home soil in the 2002 World Championships, lost 3 times in the 2004 Olympics, and than suffered another humiliating defeat at the hands of Greece in the 2006 World Championships.
Because of the failures, USA decided to overhaul the entire program. Duke coach Mike Kzyzewski was named head coach for the team, and unlike in the past he would stay the head coach to bring some consistency to the program. USA basketball also announced that they would build a team using the team concept instead of the 12 best players. Players were also asked to sign on to USA basketball for multiple seasons.
In previous seasons the best players in the NBA declined an invite, but the pressure was on and a lot of the games biggest stars stepped forward to wear the Red White and Blue. Kobe Bryant was one of the first to say he was playing, he was followed by Jason Kidd, and Lebron James. In quick succession the roster was full of all-stars like Carlos Boozer, Deron Williams, Michael Redd, Dwyane Wade, Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, Chris Paul, Tayshaun Prince and Carmelo Anthony. It was clear that this was the best roster the USA had assembled since the 1992 Dream Team. The team took on the moniker "The Redeem Team" as their goal was to redeem the United States for a series of embarassing losses.
The team was required to play in the 2007 Tournament of the Americas tournment. The US took care of business and won the Americas automatic bid. The majority of the 2007 roster was also on the 2008 team.
The US played a few exhabition games. One vs Austrailia where the struggled, but the rest were easy victories for the Americans.
The 12 teams that made up the 2008 Olympic pool were selected the same way the previous Olympics had been picked. The host China got an automatic bid, the World Champions Spain got an automatic bid, the Asian Chapions (Iran), Oceanian champions (Australia), African Champion (Angola), The Americas champion (United States) all got automatic bids. Bids were given to Russia, Argentina, Lithuania Greece, Croatia, and Germany.
The US was placed in Group B, which was called the "pool of death" with Spain, Greece, China, Germany and Angola.
The US first game was against the host China. A lot was said about how good the Chinese players had become and their star Yao Ming was the #1 pick in 2002. China kept it close early, but the Americans powered through to a 101-70 victory.
The next game was Angola was seen as the easiest game in the pool tournament. The US got a big lead early and coasted to an easy 97-76 win. The US was very deliberate not to get too fancy in this game
Next the US played Greece, the team who knocked them out of the 2006 World Championships, and the US wanted revenge. The US lead by 20 points at the half and got a convincing 92-69 win.
The US faced Spain, a long time adversary, and a team who despite the US' troubles, the US had been able to consistently beat no matter how good the Spanish where. The Spainards were definately not showing their hand, and a loss to the United States would likely put them in a different bracket than the US. The Spanish got crushed by the US 119-82.
In the final game the US took on Germany. It was throught that the Germans could give the US a fight, but the Americans came out firing on all cylinders and nearly doubled up the Germans in a 106-57 victory.
The US took the top spot in Group B at 5-0, Spain was second at 4-1, followed by Greece and China. Group A was topped by Lithuania, followed by Argentina, Croatia and Australia.
The US took on Australia in the quarterfinals. The Aussies had given the Americans their toughest test in the exhabition games prior to the Olympics, but the was prepared and blew them out 116-85.
In the semifinals the US played the 2004 gold medalist Argentina. Argentina had a plethora of NBA talent and was seen as equals to the US. The US came out firing and quickly built a 20 point lead, but the Argentines roared back and cut the lead to 9 going into the half. But there was too much Carmelo Anthony for them to handle, and the US walked away with a convincing 101-81 victory.
Spain had upset Lithuania in the other quarterfinal match and was ready to face the US in the gold medal game. Spain had claimed that this was to be their golden moment.
The US struggled defensively in the first half, allowing 61 points - however, the Americans put up 69 points themselves. The defenses settled down a little in the second half, but the US was about to outscore the Spanish and after some big shots by Kobe Bryant, the US accomplished its redemption with a 118-107 victory.
The gold medal was the 13th in United States and kicked off, as of 2024, the second longest run of gold medals in Olympic basketball history.
The team is often seen as one of the few teams that could legitimately rival the Dream Team as the greatest team ever assembled. There is talks of the team eventually making the basketball hall-of-fame.
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