The men's national basketball team of the United States won the gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. They qualified for the Olympics by winning the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship held in Las Vegas, Nevada. The team was nicknamed the "Redeem Team", a play on the "Dream Team" name for the 1992 U.S. Olympic team, and a reference to the fact that the United States came away with disappointing bronze medals during the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2006 FIBA World Championship. Former Phoenix Suns chairman and CEO Jerry Colangelo was named managing director of the national team program by the USA Basketball Executive Committee in 2005.[1] Kobe Bryant was named the team captain and Mike Krzyzewski was named the head coach of the 2008 team.[2] An ESPN program, Road to Redemption, followed the team's preparations. Additionally, a Netflix produced documentary titled The Redeem Team was released in 2022.[3]
| Head coach | Mike Krzyzewski |
|---|---|
| 2008 Summer Olympics |  |
| Scoring leader |  Dwyane Wade 16.0 |
| Rebounding leader | Chris Bosh 6.9 |
| Assists leader | Chris Paul 4.0 |
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The United States defeated Spain 118–107 in the final to win the gold. Dwyane Wade was the leading scorer for team USA averaging 16 points per game.[4]
Record edit
Preliminary round edit
The team competed in Group B of the preliminary round.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  United States
|
5 | 5 | 0 | 515 | 354 | +161 | 10 | Quarterfinals |
| 2 |  Spain
|
5 | 4 | 1 | 418 | 369 | +49 | 9 | |
| 3 |  Greece
|
5 | 3 | 2 | 415 | 375 | +40 | 8 | |
| 4 |  China (H)
|
5 | 2 | 3 | 366 | 400 | −34 | 7 | |
| 5 |  Germany
|
5 | 1 | 4 | 330 | 390 | −60 | 6 | |
| 6 |  Angola
|
5 | 0 | 5 | 321 | 477 | −156 | 5 |
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal average; 4) head-to-head number of points scored.
(H) Hosts
| August 10, 2008 | ||
| United States |
101 – 70 | China
|
| August 12, 2008 | ||
| Angola |
76 – 97 | United States
|
| August 14, 2008 | ||
| United States |
92 – 69 | Greece
|
| August 16, 2008 | ||
| Spain |
82 – 119 | United States
|
| August 18, 2008 | ||
| United States |
106 – 57 | Germany
|
Tournament bracket edit
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | ||||||||||||
| A1 |  Lithuania
| 94 | ||||||||||||
| B4 | China
| 68 | ||||||||||||
| A1 | Lithuania
| 86 | ||||||||||||
| B2 | Spain
| 91 | ||||||||||||
| B2 | Spain
| 72 | ||||||||||||
| A3 |  Croatia
| 59 | ||||||||||||
| B2 | Spain
| 107 | ||||||||||||
| B1 | United States
| 118 | ||||||||||||
| B1 | United States
| 116 | ||||||||||||
| A4 |  Australia
| 85 | ||||||||||||
| B1 | United States
| 101 | Bronze medal game | |||||||||||
| A2 |  Argentina
| 81 | ||||||||||||
| A2 | Argentina
| 80 | A1 | Lithuania
| 75 | |||||||||
| B3 | Greece
| 78 | A2 | Argentina
| 87 | |||||||||
Roster edit
The following is the United States roster in the men's basketball tournament of the 2008 Summer Olympics.[5]
| United States men's national basketball team – 2008 Summer Olympics roster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Coaches | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
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References edit
- ^ "USA BASKETBALL ANNOUNCES 12-MEMBER 2008 MEN'S SENIOR NATIONAL TEAM". teamusa.org. Archived from the original on March 2, 2014.
- ^ Sean Gregory (July 24, 2008). "1. LeBron James - 100 Olympic Athletes To Watch". Time. Time Magazine. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
- ^ The Redeem Team (Documentary).
- ^ "2008 Stats - United States".
- ^ "2008 Olympic Basketball Men (FIBA) – United States roster". FIBA. Archived from the original on June 2, 2008. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
External links edit
- USA Basketball, official site
- The Redeem Team, 2022 Netflix documentary