NBA today, IMF tomorrow!

[Louis Proyect]

NY Times, Sept. 5, 2002

ARGENTINA 87, UNITED STATES 80
10-Year Winning Streak Ends for U.S. Basketball
By MIKE WISE

INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 4 — Down by 20 points before halftime, dumbfounded by a 
former Temple University point guard in need of work, 12 N.B.A. players and 
their tortured coach were shockingly outplayed by a team from another 
continent tonight.

A bunch of ambidextrous, unfazed players from Argentina thumbed their noses 
at the American stars, took the game to the United States and won, 87-80, 
in the world basketball championships.

It was the first loss by N.B.A. players in international competition — a 
streak going back 10 years and 58 games — and it came before 5,623 fans at 
Conseco Fieldhouse, which seats 18,345.

In the heartland of hoops, with even Reggie Miller unable to bail his team 
out, the Argentines delivered, picking the Americans' pride and panache 
clean at midcourt.

"It's an embarrassment," said point guard Andre Miller, who scored 14 
points. "It's obviously an embarrassment. We're supposed to be the 
so-called superstars, representing the U.S.A., and we didn't even lead the 
whole game."

Indeed, this was not the product of some foreign 3-point binge, some 
fortuitous bounce at the buzzer, or an officiating travesty, à la Munich 1972.

Argentina never trailed, led by 52-32 a minute before halftime, and took 14 
fewer 3-pointers than did the United States. Argentina outmuscled, 
outpassed and outshot a United States team that looked more poorly 
constructed as the game wore on.

Without a dominant presence down low and with spotty perimeter shooters, 
the United States team is big on athletes but short on height and balance.

A brave new basketball universe was always rumored to be out there, ever 
since Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and the Dream Team took their skills 
and their lore to Barcelona, Spain, in 1992 and gave the rest of the world 
something to emulate. But never had reality set in so hard, the notion that 
someone on another continent could actually beat, let alone rout, N.B.A. 
players.

"The symbolic importance is, it's a great game," United States Coach George 
Karl said. "It's a game the world has fallen in love with. In this time of 
feeling poorly and awful, there's a part of me that's a celebration of 
basketball. It's a game that a lot of countries love and we must accept the 
challenge to compete stronger and better."

At the end, Emanuel Ginobili, a 6-foot-6 shooting guard drafted by the San 
Antonio Spurs whom most of the world has yet to hear about, went hard to 
the basket for layups against Ben Wallace, the N.B.A's defensive player of 
the year, sneaking in left-handed shots off the glass.

full: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/05/sports/othersports/05HOOP.html


Louis Proyect
www.marxmail.org



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