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This Day in Basketball History

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2000 - Team USA wins gold in Sydney

The men's U.S. national basketball team did not reach the heights, mystique and prestige of the first, famed Dream Team from the 1992 Olympics, but through the years, the roster has continued to look like a veritable Hall of Fame convention.  

The 2000 Olympic team that participated in Sydney, Australia might have had some notable absences, but it also boasted superstars like Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Vince Carter, Jason Kidd, Gary Payton and Alonzo Mourning. 

Still, that team never seemed particularly interested or engaged, and certainly didn't capture the nation's attention the way past American squads had. They predictably ran roughshod over countries like China, New Zealand and Italy, but some surprisingly stiff Eastern European competition caught them napping. 

In a semifinal tilt with upstart Lithuania, the U.S. hung on by its fingernails to win 85-83, when Lithuanian guard Sarunas Jasikevicius – the breakout star of the tournament and a future NBA bust player – missed a last-ditch 3-point heave that would've won the game. 

The Americans followed up that dispiriting near-loss with a ho-hum 85-75 win over France in the gold-medal game. They went undefeated in the tournament and were Olympic champions once again, but the team had shed its aura of invincibility. 

In the end, what people seem to remember about that team is not the gold medal, but (understandably) this: 

Birthdays

1944 - Red Robbins 

1954 - John Drew

1970 - Eric Piatkowski

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