In an upset that rivals anything the basketball world has ever seen, the NBA millionaire-studded U.S. Olympic team beat the magnificently unknown Germans in the most important exhibition ever played in Cologne, Germany.
As if out of a Hollywood script, the unheralded Americans got a final-shot
3-pointer from Allen Iverson on Wednesday to pull out an 80-77 win, humbling the stunned German crowd of 18,000.
A day after being schooled 95-78 by basketball power Italy, the U.S showed Germany and the rest of the world that–for one day at least–they were a force to be reckoned with.
When Iverson’s second 3-pointer in the final 11 1/42 minutes went through the net, teammate Tim Duncan raised a finger as if to say, “We’re No. 1!”–forgetting, if only for a moment, about Tuesday’s loss to Italy.
But this was not the time for passionless math. Instead, team members piled atop Iverson after a well-earned win over the non-Olympic qualifying Germans.
“It felt good because it was the first time in my life I hit a buzzer-beater like that,” said Iverson, a U.S. co-captain despite just eight seasons at the highest levels of pro hoops.
U.S. coach Larry Brown must be pleased with how far this young, inexperienced team of wealthy American sneaker endorsers has come.
The U.S. never led by more than five points, but the Germans just couldn’t handle an American team that played as if they–and not a Canadian gym teacher–invented the game of basketball.
The U.S. team plays its first game in Athens against intergalactic superpower Puerto Rico on Aug. 15.
Before the Olympics, the Americans’ next exhibition game is against always-formidable Serbia-Montenegro.
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Edited by the sports staff of RedEye.
