Puerto Ricans slam dunk US NBA stars in epic upset

[Nambe]

ATHENS (AFP)

Puerto Rico inflicted one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history upon the United States basketball team with a 92-73 triumph that forever ended the Americans' aura of global invincibility.

Co-captains Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson and rookie LeBron James were among the young collection of National Basketball Association millionaires humbled by a team that was crushed by the Americans in an exhibition barely two weeks ago.

"I take my hat off to Puerto Rico. They prepared really well and their coaching was sensational," US coach Larry Brown said. "Now we have to look inside ourselves for the answers, because we are the favourites.

"I hope we will be capable of doing that."

It was the first Olympic defeat for the United States in 25 games since Michael Jordan led the original Dream Team at the 1992 Barcelona Games. ..

Ride Don’t Drive * * It’s Global Cool

[kanrok]

1. The U.S. team sucks

Puerto Rico and basketball. As big an anomaly as Irish cuisine.

[Maple]

3. Mmmm the Irish have a fantastic cuisine

the US doesn't appear to have a basketball team

Don't confuse the two.

[Cha]

8. Yeah, I had to look at that a few times

to make sure I was reading it correctly.

[Zynx]

2. We deserved to get our asses kicked. Our players are a bunch of arrogant

assholes. That applies to nearly all of our sports. I can't stand most of our athletes.

[LauraK]

4. This won't help dimson's Olympic ads.

Probably won't hurt them either.

[Cha]

9. smirk has olympic ads?

Creep.

[Gman]

5. How absolutely embarrasing

This is humiliating.

I love bball. This is the only thing I have national pride in. Wars should be settled with a game of street ball.

Now, the mighty US has been humbled.

[MikeG]

6. I'm sorry folks. But I laughed my effing ass off at these assholes.

Sorry if that's unpatriotic.

[lazarus]

10. One of those "assholes"

Is Tim Duncan, who may be the classiest player in the league.

As far as sending college players, there's a reason we send pros. The college kids weren't able to compete.

The biggest problem is that the rest of the world has teams, we have a collection of players put together with no eye on chemistry or what a team needs.

In all of these threads, I'm sensing a strong classism. People are very unhappy that these players make a lot of money.

That's very interesting.

[Journeyman]

7. So we should be fielding an amateur team. . .

college players with much to prove, instead of the arrogant schmucks we pull out of the NBA. I personally was pleased to see the picture in the LA Times this morning, a couple of punk millionaires who'd just got their lunch handed to them by a group of amateurs. We did just fine when we used college players for decades, but then a bunch of insecure chauvinists -- powered by a 'dream' to humiliate the world -- decided we had to use NBA players. Now they've gotten the start of their comeuppance. I believe they'll rebound, probably win the gold, but a least they've been treated for once as they've treated others.* The humiliation will hopefully bring a reassessment of our team priorities and a recommitment to the young, amateur athletes we should be celebrating in the Olympics.

*Does anyone remember the scorn and humiliation which the US team used against the Australians when the Aussies didn't want to play against a team that included Magic Johnson because he had just come out with his announcement that he had AIDs? And yet, the next year, when Johnson wanted to continue playing in the NBA, there was enough resistance from the pro players to his being on the court that Johnson eventually retired for good. Arrogant hypocrites.


http://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/la-sp-olyhoops16aug16-pg,1,3676125.photogallery?coll=la-home-headlines

[markus]

11. How does P.R. get an entry at the Olympics?

Last time I checked they were part of the United States (if a limited one).

[Moderator]

12. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=752621