2008 United States men's Olympic basketball team

The USA Men's Basketball Team on August 10, 2008.

The 2008 Olympics U.S. Men's Basketball Team represented the United States of America at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. They qualified for the Olympics by winning the FIBA American Championships 2007 held in Las Vegas, Nevada. The team was nicknamed the "Redeem Team", a play on an alternative name for the legendary 1992 squad that was called the "Dream Team", and a reference to the fact that the United States came away with a disappointing Bronze Medal during the 2004 Summer Olympics at Athens, Greece. Kobe Bryant was named the team captain and Mike Krzyzewski was named the head coach of the 2008 Olympics U.S. Men's Basketball Team. LeBron James, often named the vocal leader of the team, stated in a feature with TIME magazine: "It's the gold, or it's failure."^[1] An ESPN program, Road to Redemption, followed the team's preparations.

The United States, with eleven NBA All-Stars, a Hall of Fame coach, and an NBA MVP, ultimately accomplished their goal. They defeated Spain 118-107 to accomplish their expectation of winning the tournament.

Record

Preliminary Round

The team competed in Group B of the Preliminary Round

Team	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
United States	5	0	515	354	+161	10
Spain	4	1	418	369	+49	9
Greece	3	2	415	375	+40	8
China	2	3	366	400	−34	7
Germany	1	4	330	390	−60	6
Angola	0	5	321	477	−156	5

2008-08-10
United States	101 – 70	China
2008-08-12
Angola	76 – 97	United States
2008-08-14
United States	92 – 69	Greece
2008-08-16
Spain	82 – 119	United States
2008-08-18
United States	106 – 57	Germany

Tournament bracket

Quarterfinals (2008-08-20)

Semifinals (2008-08-22)

Gold medal game (2008-08-24)

A2

Argentina

80

B3

Greece

78

A2

Argentina

81

B1

United States

101

B1

United States

116

A4

Australia

85

B1

United States

118

B2

Spain

107

B2

Spain

72

A3

Croatia

59

B2

Spain

91

A1

Lithuania

86

A1

Lithuania

94

B4

China

68

Roster

The following is the United States roster in the men's basketball tournament of the 2008 Summer Olympics.^[2]

United States men's national basketball team – 2008 Summer Olympics roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Age – Date of birth Ht. Club Ctr. PF 4 Boozer, Carlos 26 – November 20, 1981 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) Utah Jazz PG 5 Kidd, Jason 35 – March 23, 1973 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) Dallas Mavericks SF 6 James, LeBron 23 – December 30, 1984 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) Cleveland Cavaliers PG 7 Williams, Deron 24 – March 24, 1984 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Utah Jazz SG 8 Redd, Michael 28 – August 24, 1979 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) Milwaukee Bucks SG 9 Wade, Dwyane 26 – January 17, 1982 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) Miami Heat SG 10 Bryant, Kobe (C) 29 – August 23, 1978 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) Los Angeles Lakers C 11 Howard, Dwight 22 – December 8, 1985 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) Orlando Magic PF 12 Bosh, Chris 24 – March 24, 1984 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) Toronto Raptors PG 13 Paul, Chris 23 – May 6, 1985 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) New Orleans Hornets SF 14 Prince, Tayshaun 28 – February 28, 1980 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) Detroit Pistons SF 15 Anthony, Carmelo 24 – May 29, 1984 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) Denver Nuggets	Head coach Mike Krzyzewski Assistant coach(es) Jim Boeheim Nate McMillan Mike D'Antoni Legend (C) Team captain Club – describes last club before the tournament Age – describes age on August 9, 2008

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References

1. Sean Gregory. "1. LeBron James - 100 Olympic Athletes To Watch". Time Magazine. Archived from the original on 29 December 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-08.
2. "2008 Olympic Basketball Men (FIBA) – United States roster". FIBA. Retrieved 10 October 2012.

External links

• USA Basketball, official site