The world has caught up with the United States.
After winning 58 consecutive games, the USA men's basketball team did not come away from last week's World Championships with a medal.
Instead of Reggie Miller of the NBA's Indiana Pacers or Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics hoisting the World Championship trophy Sept. 8, it was Dejan Bodiroga and his Yugoslavian team who captured the glory after defeating Argentina in overtime. That game, along with the three the USA lost in the previous week, were all played on what is normally Miller's home court of Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Losses to Spain, Argentina and Yugoslavia gave the USA a 6-3 record, placing them sixth in the final standings, a far cry from expectations.
So what went wrong?
One can argue that the roster of the USA doesn't accurately represent the best the NBA has to offer, and it's true that if the roster featured more experienced All-Star veterans the results probably would have been more acceptable. Or maybe even if last year's NCAA champion Maryland Terrapins rounded out the team.
The bottom line is, the NBA highlights individual talent and stardom so fervently that playing as a team is not as important when the game doesn't count or when it knows it can walk over its competition without much effort. Just watch an All-Star game. There appear to be more turnovers and wild passes in one quarter than in an average NBA game. We hard-core fans don't mind, of course, because all the showboating and gravity-defying alley-oops make it worth our while to watch, and it really doesn't matter who wins because each side probably has three of our favorite players.
It's questionable whether all 12 USA players thought the World Championships really mattered. They win all the time anyway, and each is only really concerned about improving his individual NBA team. It could be they're all just playing in a pickup game, and after the loss to Argentina, Miller made sure this wasn't the case when he rallied the troops togetherto tell them how they will bounce back from this loss.
But more likely, the players are not challenged enough, and as we've seen in recent years, are starting to face the pressure of international competition. Yao Ming of China was the NBA's No.1 draft pick, and Memphis Grizzlies' Pau Gasol, a Spainard, was last year's Rookie of the Year.
I was at a game in Washington, D.C., last year between the Washington Wizards and the Dallas Mavericks and looked down the row to see a poster written in German in support of the Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki, now among the best three-point shooting big men in the NBA and one of its most versatile players.
So the USA team decided to challenge itself more by selecting mainly valuable young players instead of veteran superstars. The result was first closer games, some of which involved 10 or 20-point comebacks, and now it's the unthinkable -- losing to other countries.
Still, give the NBA credit for fine-tuning these international players, who already have the option to play in their own leagues overseas, down South and Down Under. Spain gets to play its surrounding European neighbors enough that its elite get used to playing together, and then is able to add polished NBA players such as Gasol and the Washington Wizards' Juan Carlos Navarro.
Look at champ Yugoslavia and you'll see five NBA players on one team. Two of those, Vlade Divac and Predrag Stojakovic, were within minutes of making it to the NBA Finals with Sacramento before the Lakers snubbed them.
You can find all sorts of examples to explain the loss, but they don't excuse it. With the Summer Olympics only a year away, we can see why Miller tried to bring the team
together after the streak-ending second round loss to Argentina Sept. 5. Even though I'll probably never forget what Miller's done to destroy my New York Knicks, I'd say his teammates better listen up next time if they want to be victors in Athens.
First, of course, we have a lengthy NBA season, something that sets sports such as basketball and baseball aside from track and field, swimming and cycling, all sports in which international competition takes center stage.
In a year in which five of the first 16 NBA players drafted were foreigners, the USA looks to have even more of a challenge. Regardless of which countries emerge with medals, next year's championships could be a real dogfight.
Read More
For Leah Hayes, 'Just keep swimming' is what Virginia is all about
By Xander Tilock | YesterdayShe shatters records in the pool and is an inspiration to swimming fans and all those with alopecia.
Virginia comes back from a 20-point gap but falls short versus No. 18 Georgia Tech
By Victoria Blankenship | YesterdayVirginia loses another ACC bout in heartbreaking fashion.
How a reinvention turned Andrew Rohde into men’s basketball’s most reliable player
By Thomas Baxter | 2 days agoThe guard has become one of Virginia's primary threats.
