The Collapse | The Story Behind '04 Team USA 

they shoulda just send the 2004 Pistons at the Olympics back then...

Barely playing Lebron, Melo, and Wade was a mistake

That team was not able to hit 3 pointers. They forgot “to take shooters” in 2004. Why will you take 10 guys that are “slashers to the rack” instead of taking at least 3 or 4 perimeter shooters. The other team played a lot of zone against that 2004 team. Since they couldn’t shoot for shit...they got embarrassed by Puerto Rico and Argentina.

Me before watching: How could they have lost? Look at that roster! Me after watching: Larry Brown.

but it birthed the 2008 redeem team 🔥🔥🔥

Argentina was a team, the US wasn't. Period.

This year could have a repeat of this but Durant has been carrying the team on his back. Overall, team play hasn't been bad but Durant is clutch and willing to take big shots when down.

Argentina defeated the USA in 2002 World Cup in Indianapolis and in 2004 Olympics semiginals in Athens. It's not a coincidence. That is "Argentina's Golden Generation". Great talent and a great coach too.

I remember watching that semi finals game and wondered why they didn’t play Wade and Carmelo more. If I remember correctly they looked like they wanted to be on the court and play but some of the other players didn’t look as focused. Damn shame.

Guys literally love your content 🔥🔥🔥🔥

I cant say it enough... Yall videos are soo great

finally getting the details and insight on what went wrong with this team makes alotta sense

The video kind of glossed over the part that warning signs of rest of the world was catching up to USA have been showing as early as 2000 Olympics with their close wins against Lithuania with them getting quite a scare in the semis

This leaves out some more context: the issues didn't start right on 2004. Going back two years Team USA also had lost the 2002 FIBA World Cup, losing to some of the same teams as in the Olympics (Argentina, for example). USA Basketball was in disarray after Sydney. And it wasn't just Brown. The team formation was odd and uneven. For example the team have very poor three point shooters and thus they would struggle against interior defenses with no chances to open the middle up. Many players refused to go due to the threat of terror attacks, but even then there was an entire league of players they could have tried to get. It is not just a matter of getting the most skilled or talented players. It is about getting the right players to build a team. To top off the disgrace, the team itself didn't do itself any favors. Instead of taking the loss like champs they acted like prima donnas during while receiving the bronze medals. Most, outside of Duncan, Iverson, and a few more, behaved really bad during the ceremony acting as if it was beneath them and they were owed the gold medal. It was a shameful team.

08:30 - Let's get one thing clear: Kobe Bryant led that 2008 squad. When Team USA was imploding against Spain, it was Kobe that took over and won that gold medal.

In a nutshell, Team USA thought it could win based off its "athletic ability", meaning guys that could jump high and run the fast break would win games over slower Europeans. Basically, Team USA was playing hero ball (especially AI) and not Team Ball.

I've always felt like Tim Duncan got a fckn disney fast pass for this. Dude had some of the most dominant playoff runs you'll ever see. Yet a bronze medal in the olympics? Like how did he allow that? Idc they had enough talent to figure it out.

10 of the original 12 players selected dropping out over 6 months and with replacing younger players not yet ready will do that. The 2003 Qualfying team is so different than the 2004 one

As most people kept pointing out that not playing LeBron more minutes was the downfall, it’s not. He was not yet at his peak during that time. It will definitely better than playing the others tho. But the main problem was team chemistry and coaching which was a wreck, it’s like most of them does not want to be there.

I remember that day, Argentina won basketball and soccer gold medal at the same day. That country is pure talent for sports.

If we blame benchwarmer LeBron over 2004 loss against Argentina.. we should blame benchwarmer Juwan Howard over Miami Heat NBA finals lose over Dallas

There's a saying that "Coaches don't win games. Players do. Coaches can lose games." Definitely applies here

What a great channel

Making iverson play too much was also a problem

Before I even watch the video, I just want to say that with a talent pool like this one has, the biggest factor to the losing must be bad coaching. Position by position, this team had too many advantages.

That PUR victory... Man!!

Imagine not wanting to play LeBron.

Luis Scola is still grinding

The signs were already there in the 2000 Olympics in the two close games vs Lithuania in the semis and group stage.

Just look at the gaurds. Iverson and Mauberry. Great individual talents with losing attitudes, me first mindsets, and no defense.

I still have all the next morning Newspapers that came out in Puerto Rico, after that win. Got 4 of them. El Nuevo Día El Vocero Primera Hora San Juan Star

It's true that 2004 was the lowest point of Team USA's Olympics history, don't forget that in 2000 in Sydney Team USA had a very narrow victory against Lithuania in semi finals and then beat France by "only" 10 points in the finals. Yes, the USA destroyed France in group stage (where VC dunked over Frédéric Weis and literally changed his life because of that) but the final game was very close. More than anything, Lithuania could have beaten Team USA, behind a great performance by Jasikevicius. To be honest, 2000's Team USA might have been the weakest roster post 1992 and was also the most hateable - we all wished they were the ones who lost.

If coach Brown had just given these young cats the ball and let them play we would never had lost. Old dude pushing his style to young dudes. Never works.

I hope whit time people recognize and speak more about how talent, well coach AND good was that Argentinan team...dont say ur point of view Is wrong, but merit to Argentina...

Why i see other people blame this lost to LeBron and called him Lebronze isn't even his fault

The Redeem Team: Origins

Folks didn't wanna blame Brown at the time since he just took the Pistons to the championship but hindsight really is 20-20.

The 2002 dream team loss to Yugoslavia was the precursor. Also, no mention of the 2006 loss to Greece. Whether it's Olympics or FIBA World Cup, it's still a team led by multi-time NBA All Stars.

Funny Coming Into 2004 Olympics Duncan was the Best Player. But When we lost they Blamed Iverson. Let Duncan off the Hook. That Was Lame.

Revisionist history about the state of USA basketball in 2004. That full NBA squad USA team in 2002 finished SIXTH on American soil, the team that showed up in 2003 for qualifiers featured a lot of stars like KG and Vinsanity who refused to show up in 2004, and by then anyone following international basketball knew teams like Argentina, Italy and the former Yugoslavia were ascending. Anyone who thought Team USA was a shoo-in for gold was just ignorant and not paying attention. Though to be fair, that was pretty much every sports fan in America at the time.

“Brown sought scapegoats everywhere but in the mirror.” Bingo.

Pound for Pound Larry Brown. I'm glad he takes the brunt of the blame in this video as he deserves it. I was never a big fan of his in the NBA but he seemed to be Team USA's biggest opponent that year.

I’m mad early for this one😂

Noah Lyles brought me here 😂😂😂😂

Coach Brown asked Puerto Rico coaches not to play zone during the friendly games. They won by 30 both games. Italy later beat them with a 2-3 zone. Puerto Rico used a triangle n 2 zone on the opener.

Yo, that 2004 roster was loaded, especially defensively. Coaching must have suck for them not to win gold.

I remember my brother flipping out when he read on the newspaper on why the US team didn't have a lot of their stars cause the coach wanted to prove they can win with a young team instead of an experienced team

Hard to believe how this team didn't win, Duncan, Iverson, LeBron, Stoudemire, Wade, Marbury, Odom

i think the major prob was the coaching, chemistry, not playing Bron, Wade, Melo as much and not having all the guys like Shaq, Kobe, KG, Kidd, T-Mac, VC on board. The team that was picked a few years before was much better and was stacked

Fun fact, the first Basketball World Cup was in 1950, Argentina claimed the gold medal by beating USA 64-50 but there was no dream team back then so they sent the Denver Chevrolets

What were the *legitimate* security concerns about the Athens Olympics? There was not the slightest security incident in 2004, unlike, say, Atlanta 1996...

Lithuania and Spain always give us a run 🏃‍♀️

I’ve never been this early

Poor construction: I remember the day before the Olympics started, SportsCenter did a thing showing how literally everyone but Tim Duncan had a professional or personal reason to hate a teammate.

Success is just a matter of perspective. US getting the bronze is a nightmare for them, but for my counyry to just squeek in the olympics basketball would mean the greatest accomplishment. Im from a country thats crazy about basketball, but basketball doesn't love it back.

Any dislikes are the '04 squad members

No pure point guards and no pure shooters on the 04' team. In international basketball, you need facilitating point guards, big men, and pure shooters. Marbury and Iverson are score first point guards.

Do the both the Dream and the Redeem Team 🔥🔥🔥

I actually laugh in the face of people that blame this on LeBron because of their hatred for him, like 2 time (at that time) Finals MVP Tim Duncan wasn't on that team and I hardly ever hear his name get blamed for this

So that’s why the 08 team was named the redeem team

Lit

I remember when Argentina and ginoboli won gold over usa we could not believe it lol

Don't worry, 2014 for Brazil in Soccer was way worse than this. Hosting the World Cup, playing in one of our most famous stadiums and losing 7 to 1 to one of our greatest rivals with the whole world watching the game. It was so humiliating that it was even funny. It will be remembered for decades, if not centuries. It is going to be very hard to have a worse disappointment than this in sports, at least for us brazilians, but never say never!

Waiting for a major docu over Argentinas golden generation. Most romantic win ever

What I remember the most was Allen Iverson taking over and single handidly assuring that the USA would at least get a Bronze.

If they had a different coach, team USA wins the gold. Lebron was always a spark plug off the bench, but Brown never played him. Starting lineup should have been Iverson, Wade, Bron, Melo, and Duncan but instead it was Iverson, Marbury, Odom, Jefferson, and Duncan.

Larry brown hates young players and point guards that shoot a lot 😂😂😂

The 2003 USA team was a monster. Too bad only Iverson and Duncan manned up and came to Athens.

Puerto Rico 🇵🇷 Did that 😎 Arroyo 🐐

Without Kobe Bryant this team usa is suck. When coach k said I will need Kobe Bryant. Then the history is GOLD. Kobe is the heart and soul of the redeem team. 😊. I’m going to watch the redeem team documentary in Netflix.

They blame AI and Marbury. I blame Larry Brown not playing thought Duncan and letting the young boys come off the bench and run

Larry Brown did not give enough minutes for LBJ, Melo and Wade. Wow. And his reason is that they did not have enough preparation time. What a dumdum.

Funny to hear that the team was so young as being a factor when the league is so young now

I loved Larry brown when he was Mr Roper on 3’s Company!😂

You should have mention the 2003 USA MEN'S OLYMPIC QUALIFYING TEAM were the ones suppose to participate in 2004 olympics. Duncan, Iverson and Jefferson were the ones left from that team and everyone were last minute replacements. Next time add more context to your video.

Can u do 2006 as well?

"the monster does bleed"

Bout time y’all got humbled up! Remember, y’all can win many gold medals, but that stain will always be there 😉 🇵🇷 🇦🇷 🔥

I really wish the players played for pride of country. Other countries play like it's the NBA finals. It should mean as much as a chip if not more.

Starting a micro backcourt of Iverson and Marbury was a terrible decision. Too small, plus neither were great 3 pt shooters. Terrible roster construction and distribution of minutes.

U can't be a Winner if you've never lost... I think it's good we lost...being half puertorriqueño and the son of a father born in the canaries but raised in PR things like the fact they have PR playing on a seperate team show that my pops sentiments about the US usually looking down on PR as not officially apart of the US ..but maybe it's better that way as surprisingly after 100+ years La Isla is still mostly Spanish and not overwhelmingly Americanized like some places..sorry to yap but thanks for the video bruh u got my like no doubt

Why does he bring up limited lebron minutes without mentioning d wade who already proved his prowess as a rookie leading miami out of first round

I don't care how many college or NBA championships coach Brown has won. The coaching here, and not bringing home the gold, takes all of Brown's accomplishments away in my book. What a disappointment!!!

after this we took off 🇺🇸

Larry Brown was the reason this team lost. Starting Marbury and AI together and barely playing the 03 draft guys. This shit was in him

The only issue in that match was that tim Duncan got into foul trouble....

Lebron played 3 mins, Amare played 2 mins and Carmelo DNP... then some of the haters blamed Lebron.. hahaha...

I know Coach K would've done a lot better

No mention of 2006 the got Bronze in 2006 World Championships

There team was so young

They were better off sending the 2004 Detroit Pistons considering Coach brown was coaching

Didn't they have numerous players quiting the USAB team, Ray Allen, Shaq, Kobe, Garnett, Kidd, McGrady, Carter??

Anyone else here after seeing the redeem team trailer?

NO DOMINANT CENTER, NO PLAY MAKING POINT GUARD, NO 3 POINT SHOOTING GUARD. THIS TEAM IS DOOMED BEFORE THE START OF THE OLYMPICS.

This team should've been... PG - Allen Iverson, Jason Kidd SG - Kobe Bryant, Ray Allen, Tracy McGrady C - Shaquille ONeil, Ben Wallace SF - Vince Carter, Paul Pierce PF - Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan

Saying that there were legit security concerns about hosting the Olympic Games in Athens was an absolute joke! The money spent on security systems that were at the end not even used, was beyond any imagination and absolutely unnecessary. I am not saying this was the reason for us going bankrupt but this money could have been used elsewhere! What a joke of an excuse!

Holes in the US armor could be seen in the 2000 Olympics when the US team survived a 2 point thriller.

Interesting pronunciation of Sarunas Jasikevicius at 6:15 🙄🙄

USA Basketball 2004 Athens: Starting Line up: C- Shaquille O'Neal 7'1" PF- Tim Duncan 6'11" SF- Tracy McGrady 6'8" SF- Kobe Bryant 6'6" PG- Jason Kidd 6'3" Bench: C- Jarmaine O'Neal 6'11" PF- Kevin Garnett 6'11" SF- Vince Carter 6'6" SG- Ray Allen 6'5" PG- Allen Iverson PG- Mike Bibby 6'2" PG- Chauncey Billups 6'3"

I remember this game.. one word.. Larry fckin Brown!