Brown Blames 9/11 And Injuries For Bronze In 2004


Aug 25, 2008 11:20 AM EST
Larry Brown was the head coach of Team USA during their Bronze medal performance in the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

"The thing is they got guys that are willing to make a three-year commitment, which I think is tremendous," Brown said of this current Team USA. "We had guys that committed (for 2004) and then all of a sudden 9/11 happened, and then there were injuries."

Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen all made late withdraws for various reasons.

Via New York Daily News

General Basketball, Charlotte Bobcats

Its not my fault we lost. lol..

I was gonna post this but I was so mad I just left it alone....

????

When did 9/11 happen again?

Muthafuk Larry Brown all day everyday!

not for nothing.. thats a legit beef, and screw Larry. No Manu in against Arg and they eeked out a win against Spain with some big shots to close it out. If Kobe, Lebron and Bosh all didnt feel comfortable with traveling and they are replaced by lesser players than we are looking at another Bronze. End of story.

Call it an excuse
Call it a reason

Its the truth. Our best players didnt go

Main article: Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics
The close outcome of 2000 prompted a number of NBA superstars to agree to join the team for the FIBA Americas Championship 2003, which the squad was required to participate in to qualify for the 2004 Summer Olympics. The team easily cruised to a first-place finish, earning it a spot in Athens, Greece the following summer.

However, the dominant team that competed in 2003 could not be kept together. For different reasons, 10 of its 12 players elected not to participate in Athens, causing USA Basketball to scramble to fill their places. The revamped 2004 team consisted of some young NBA stars early in their careers, such as Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James, but also included recent Most Valuable Players Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson. The team was coached by Larry Brown.

After struggles in several exhibition matches, the vulnerability of the 2004 team was confirmed when Puerto Rico defeated them 92–73 in the very first game of the Olympic tournament in Athens. It was only the third Olympic basketball defeat ever for Team USA and the third for an American team composed of professionals (the first two being against Argentina & Yugoslavia two years before). The 19 point defeat was the most lopsided loss for Team USA in the history of international competition, suggesting that the level of international basketball had caught up with that of the United States.

After winning close games against Greece and Australia, Team USA fell to Lithuania, dropping to 2–2 in the Olympic tournament. Even after an 89–53 win over Angola, the Americans entered the knockout rounds in fourth place due to goal average, the lowest seed of their group. The Americans faced undefeated Spain in their quarterfinal game and finally put up a dominant performance, beating the Spaniards 102–94.

However, the semi-final match saw Team USA defeated by Argentina, 89–81, ending the United States' hold on the gold medal. As in the World Tournament two years ago, Argentina ended the run. Team USA did rebound to capture the bronze medal by defeating Lithuania. Still, it marked only the third time that an American team failed to win gold, and the first time for an American team composed of professionals. Before 2004, American teams had only lost two games in all previous Olympic tournaments, whereas in this one the American team lost three.

I think the fact that the guys that did go weren't used to playing with each other was a bigger factor than some of the big stars not playing. Another issue was Larry doesn't understand the international game and he coached like this was the NBA. He didn't use the kids right and ticked off just about every player too.

With the group of guys he had they didn't need his strong arm BS. They needed a real game plan that made sense against the other olympic teams. Why he didn't have a solution to the fact that teams would pack it in against our bigs and dare us to shoot. He couldn't convince that team to play D on the perimeter either and that was a HUGE problem. It wasn't all Larry's fault, we all know that, but he was there and should accept the blame just as the players did.

I actually admire the NBA players that did go and face the music.

Posted by Bippity10:

why in the world would you hire LB to coach an Olympic team is beyond me.

Quiet hatter, you're just a Larry-Lover, your opinion isn't valid.

Posted by fishmike:

Posted by EnySpree:

I was gonna post this but I was so mad I just left it alone....

????

When did 9/11 happen again?

Muthafuk Larry Brown all day everyday!

the 9/11 beef was legit. Guys didnt want to travel overseas and I dont blame them one bit. Remember there were other attacks like that train sabotage. Guys didnt want to fly to Athens and as a result we didnt send our best players.

Precisely.

They used to practice for two weeks and then go play.

Larry got legit beef. Yes, Lebron and Carmello were rookies, and Larrys point guard was Marbury.

They whined and complained.

I agree, no Kobe, No commitment no way they beat spain this time.

Colangelo got his commitments well in advance and it proved very important.

Larry got his gold as the point guard in 1964. Larry got his championship in the NCAA, and NBA. He has the trifecta!

Posted by MS:

Please NBA players are fake tough guys, they all acted hard and when anything goes down they back down like pussies, throw punches like little girls and have no perspective. There is no way in hell any terrorist group was going to attack the olympics, thats a world event, and all these guys think they are better than they are, when you have them staying on the queen mary instead of regular lodging they just revert to being spoiled babies, ala Kobe Bryant. There is not a bigger chump, out there this guy whines like a child, always gets his way and pretends he is a team player please.......

And Brown is a very good coach there is no debating it, but he got a gift with the pistons, wallace hand delivered to the pistons and great luck in the playoffs with Kidd breaking down when the Nets had a 3-2 lead, JO being hurt the next round and injuries to shaq and wade the pistons played an a great nba finals, the lakers were injured as well that's how it goes sometimes but they didn't deserve to be in the finals either year as they were not the best team.....

Any Larry had to play the tough guy in the olympics his starting lineup was disgraceful he didn't use amare or lebron correctly if he played them, there is no reason to bring up the team you had, it was poorly constructed and not in comparison but Wade, Lebron, Duncan, Amare, Odom, Marion, Iverson, Melo is good enough to get it done.

This doesn't really help your argument MS, calling NBA players woosies and all. Have you forgotten what 9/11 was like on that day? And what about Atlanta? The Olympics? Remember? There was a bomb? It went off? It killed a woman? Who'd ever of thought? That event on 9/11 had a profound effect on many people for a long time. I specifically remember the feeling of the world coming to an end and it bothered me for a few years. The tip of Manhattan is still having trouble filling those office spaces. I can't blame some of those guys leaving the Olympics, because you never know. Why take a chance, when you have everything else to live for? Of course, this is just to add that Brown did not have the troops he could have had. Hate Brown if some of you must, but find something better to make the case.

If your a terrorist, specifically al queda your not going to stage an attack on the olympics, your just not. Some douche bag that sets off a small explosion in Atlanta in order to report his own wrong doing to look like a hero is not comparable to 9/11. And referencing downtown office buildings as not being filled because of 9/11 is really not correct, the WTC is very delicate on what they can and cant;'t build and people aren't in those offices because of incompetance, the area is being transformed with residential development all over the wall street area, battery park, etc, retail, that's not what's stopping the area.

And no one is hiding behind a computer, KG was getting married that's an excuse not to go, but not because you're afraid, I'm willing to bet you would go if you had the opportunity, and most people would not pass up the chance to represent their country, enough player went as I mentioned below that the US should have had no problem winning the gold.