2004 United States men's Olympic basketball team
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The men's national basketball team of the United States competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The team was led by future Basketball Hall of Fame head coach Larry Brown.
| Head coach | Larry Brown |
|---|---|
| 2004 Summer Olympics |  |
| Scoring leader |  Allen Iverson[1] 13.8 |
| Rebounding leader | Tim Duncan 9.1 |
| Assists leader | Stephon Marbury 3.4 |
The Americans were favored to win the gold medal, after winning the tournament the previous three Olympics.[2][3] However, the team won bronze, while losing three games against its opponents, the most games ever lost by a U.S. men's Olympic basketball team.
The team lost its opening game to Puerto Rico by 19 points, which stands as the largest margin of defeat for the U.S. in the Olympics.[4] It ended their 24-game Olympic winning streak since 1992, when National Basketball Association (NBA) players were first allowed to compete.[5] The team also lost a group stage game to Lithuania and the semi-final game to Argentina.
In addition, the team lost a friendly preparation game prior to the Olympics, against Italy, by a score of 95–78.[6][7][8] This was the second time that Team USA won the bronze medal, having also done so at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.