The gold medal was gone. But the U.S. men’s basketball team still had a Saturday night date at Olympic Indoor Hall.
The bronze-medal meeting with Lithuania figured to be little more than a warmup act for the title game between Argentina and Italy.
It was anything but.
Shawn Marion’s 22 points led the Americans to a 104-96 victory that marked the 100th medal won by the U.S. in the Athens Games and avenged a four-point loss to Lithuania in pool play.
“That was probably the hardest game I’ve ever been involved in as a coach,” U.S. coach Larry Brown said. “The players would say the same thing. It was a bitter disappointment losing [to Argentina in the semifinals].”
Said Marion: “We came here for the gold. It hurts that we didn’t get it. To come back for the bronze, to be motivated for that, was a challenge. But we didn’t want to go home empty-handed.”
This was the first time a U.S. men’s team had failed to win a gold medal since NBA players began playing in the Olympics in 1992.
The start of the bronze-medal game was delayed 40 minutes when both teams showed up in their white uniforms. After its loss to Argentina, the U.S. said that FIBA–international basketball’s governing body–had told it white was the color it would be wearing Saturday.
FIBA said it had told the U.S. to bring both sets of uniforms.
The red uniforms were locked away on the Queen Mary II, the local home of the U.S. team. So a call was made and the reds were delivered.
Lithuania made 21 of 37 (57 percent) from three-point range but only 11 of 26 (42 percent) on two-pointers. The U.S. outscored Lithuania 12-5 on fast-break points, got 40 rebounds to Lithuania’s 26 and had 36 points in the paint to Lithuania’s 18.
The U.S. led by nine late in the first quarter, but a single point separated the squads with a little less than six minutes to go in the game.
After a free throw by Tim Duncan, Marion sank a three-pointer from the left corner, Lamar Odom hit a three, Stephon Marbury made a baby jumper and Odom rebounded a Marbury miss and scored as he was fouled.
When he made the free throw, the U.S. led by seven and held on.
“We wanted gold,” Marion said. “But I’ll take anything right now. That’s the way it is.”
Argentina won the gold, thumping Italy 84-69.
