4) 2004 – Argentina upset USA en route to Gold medal
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USA may have dominated Olympic basketball in the ‘90s and 2000 after professional players were allowed to compete. But they were in for a rude awakening in 2004 when they lost their first ever game at the Olympics after NBA players made the team.
To make matters worse, USA actually lost three games on their way to a disappointing Bronze medal finish. In spite of stalwarts such as LeBron James, Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson, Dwayne Wade and Carmelo Anthony making the squad, they were first beaten by Puerto Rico and then Lithuania before the knockout stage.
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Although they beat Spain in the quarter-final, they came across Argentina’s Golden Generation with Manu Ginobili leading the charge. El Alma Argentina beat USA 89-81 with superior ball rotation, sticking to the basics and simply making fewer errors than the Americans who were also guilty of shooting at less than 50%.
“You can't just walk up and put a team together in two weeks and beat a team that's been playing together for years.” – Sam Mitchell (Former player and coach)
It gave the South American side a huge boost ahead of the final where they eventually beat Italy to take the Gold.
