After the IOC allowed a team of NBA stars to compete in the Olympics in 1992, the USA team won 7 of the next 8 tournaments. All the more unique is the victory of the Argentina national team at the Games in Athens, which became one of the main sensations in the history of basketball.

Invincible Dream Team

Could you have made millions from that victory by betting on 1xBet? Depends on the answer to the question “Is 1xBet a legit website?” Yes, of course. The company had started its activities not in 2007 but several years earlier. El Alma Argentina’s triumph was hard to believe even despite their victory over the United States during the 2002 World Cup, which Argentina ultimately finished in second place.

Two years later, a new version of the Dream Team arrived from the NBA in Greece with the great Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson, and young stars LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Carmelo Anthony. Their status was not in doubt even then and corresponded to all the epithets they earned during their career. The team was led by American pro Larry Brown, who had just won the championship with Detroit.

Hard path to the final 

The Argentines began the tournament with a difficult victory by one point over the national team of Serbia and Montenegro and then lost to the Spaniards. Only China was beaten relatively easily, after which a difficult victory was achieved over New Zealand, and the match was lost to the Italians.

At the end of the group stage, the South Americans finished only third and faced a tough bracket in the playoffs. The team’s chances of making it to the finals were approximately the same as winning with a zero bet in 1xBet casino today. Read 1xbet Casino Review is exciting, but it’s even more exciting to know that Argentina succeeded. Many didn’t believe but the team went all in and won!

In the quarterfinals, Argentina faced an incredibly strong and well-played Greek team, which in 2 years would become the world champion, and if successful, the USA would await them in the semifinals.

It was a tough positional match with the Europeans, in which Argentina was only able to put the squeeze on the team of Papadopoulos and Diamantidis in the last quarter. Emanuel “Manu” Ginóbili, star of El Alma Argentina and the San Antonio Spurs, scored just 13 points in this game, which looked like a modest achievement heading into the match against the Dream Team. In the parallel quarterfinals, the Americans defeated the Spaniards with a score of 102-94 in a beautiful and effective shootout.

Manu Ginobili’s match of life

Argentina entered the semifinal as if it were the match of a lifetime and deservedly took the first quarter and then the second. It seemed that after the break and a conversation with Brown, the Americans would easily win back the 5-point gap, but Ginóbili thought otherwise. His winning pass under the hoop brought victory to the team in the first game with Serbia and Montenegro, but he played the main match of the tournament in the semifinals. Thanks to Manu’s points, the Argentines won the third quarter 27-19, and in the last quarter, they calmly brought the match to victory. Ginobili scored 29 points, and the vaunted US offense dissolved under the pressure of the South American defense. Only Stephon Marbury, far from the main star of that team, scored double-digit points.

Hermann significantly contributed to the triumph, giving out 6 assists in the end. A year before the tournament, Walter lost his mother, sister, and fiancee in a car accident, and after that, his father died of a heart attack. Friends from the national team helped him endure this hell and return to the court, and they dedicated the victory to him and his family.

That team was distinguished by its ability not only to support but also to get each other on the court. The Americans later recalled how they were amazed by the Argentines’ appearance at the game – with burning eyes and to battle cries. This contrasted with the approach of the US players, who could only counteract the opponent’s team play with Iverson and Marbury’s attempts to beat everyone on their way to the basket single-handedly.

The duo’s effectiveness was low, and Tim Duncan quickly received several unusual fouls and sat on the bench for a long time. The US team did not know how to play according to the FIBA basketball rules and did not consider it necessary to prepare for them. The failure in Athens is a real one, as the 1xbet scandal, no one was right. As a result, the best player on the floor of all the NBA representatives was Manu Ginobili, who was still making a name for himself in Gregg Popovich’s system. 

Olympic triumph

The 89-81 victory caused a real sensation in Argentina as well, but now they had not to get burned out before the final with Italy and not hang the gold medals on themselves even before the game.

The Argentines succeeded. They went into the big break with a lead of only 2 points, but in the third and fourth quarters, they left no chance for the Italians and defeated them with a score of 84-69. Do you want to know is it safe to withdraw money from 1xBet? As safe as possible – just like betting on Argentina to win that match closer to the final siren! Luis Scola, who scored 25 points and made 11 rebounds, would write many years later: “We surprised the world. I will always remember what it was like to go out onto the court and the atmosphere that reigned in the locker room after the game.”

In 1997, long before their great victory, the Argentines lost to the Australian team in the semifinals of the World Youth Championship. After the match, the team, which included Ginobili, Oberto, and other future heroes of Athens 2004, promised each other that they would glorify Argentinian basketball. And they kept their word.

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