basketball,The U.S. Loses Athens Opener

BASKETBALL

A World Beater Gone Amiss: The U.S. Loses Athens Opener

By DAMON HACK

Published: August 16, 2004

ATHENS, Aug. 15 - On the second full day of competition at the Athens Games, in an arena filled with fans cheering its demise, the American men's basketball team continued to give up ground in a game invented in the United States, losing to Puerto Rico, 92-73. It was the first defeat for an American men's basketball team in the Olympics since 1988.

All over this ancient city, and particularly at the raucous Helliniko Indoor Arena, fans relished the sight of the suddenly shaken American sports juggernaut. At the conclusion of the game, Puerto Rican flags shook wildly as the American team, consisting for the most part of promising young players in the N.B.A. but lacking dominant figures like Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett, exited into a tunnel, beaten, stunned and embarrassed. They had traveled all the way to Greece to find out they are not even the best team in their neighborhood.

"This is a great day for our sport in Puerto Rico,'' said the team's point guard, Carlos Arroyo, who plays for the Utah Jazz in the N.B.A. and who finished with a game-high 24 points. ''We have been dedicated to this sport since we were kids. I think Puerto Rico is celebrating big right now.''

Fans in the United States, meanwhile, can only feel stupefied about the skills that seemed so lacking Sunday. Two weeks after defeating the same Puerto Rico squad in an exhibition game by 25 points, the United States players clanked shots off the rim as if they were children at a boardwalk carnival game. They made 3 of 24 shots from 3-point range and hardly looked like anyone's notion of a Dream Team.


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/16/sports/olympics/16basketball.html?th

A vote of thanks should go to the overpaid athletes who could not find the time in their busy schedules to compete. I wonder what their price would be inorder to get them to represent their country?