USA Basketball: USA 97 - Angola 76

Coach Corey — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:57:53 GMT

Can you say DREAM TEAM II?

Yes I know it is still early, but the 2008 USA Basketball team improved to 4-0 today with a Win over Angola. This is Angola's fifth consecutive Olympic appearance as the African champion. The Redeem Team stretched its muscles, got in a good conditioning run and left a chalk outline of Angola with a 97-76 thumping on Tuesday. While the Americans are fielding a smallish lineup with only Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh taller than 6-9, the Angolans were still overwhelmingly undersized with just one player as tall as 6-8. How easy was it? LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony were a combined perfect 18-for-18 shooting in the first half.

In 1992 the Dream Team lit up Angola with a plethora of exciting baskets and ending up winning by 68 points. Today when a player from Angola received the ball in the low post memories of 92' were in the air. Felizardo Ambrosio took the feed in the post turned and intended to score over Carlos Boozer, but before Ambrosio could even get to the apex of his jump, LeBron James flashed in like a rolling ball of thunder and swatted down the shot like it was a fly on the wall.

Kobe Bryant was an eyeful in the second half, stepping into the passing lanes for steals, kissing the ball in off the glass and giving the worshipping Chinese crowd all that it wanted with a breakaway 360-spin for a dunk in the third quarter.

Angola's Carlos Almeida said after the game, "What I will remember is the play in the second quarter, the USA was on a fast break and somebody passed the ball to LeBron and he dunked it with his left hand. I think it was amazing."

When Wade took a bounce pass from Deron Williams and climbed the ladder on the left baseline for a one-handed tomahawk slam, all it did was evoked more memories from '92. USA will win the Gold Medal this year, but will they play well enough to be finally dubbed Dream Team II?

USA Basketball: "The Redeem Team?"

Coach Corey — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:06:25 GMT

The original Dream Team, the U.S. basketball team that won the gold medal at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, was a phenomenon on and off the court. It mattered not that it dominated the Olympic competition, beating its eight opponents by an average of 44 points. What was important was that the Dream Team, the first U.S. Olympic team to include NBA stars, gave fans a glimpse of basketball at its finest, and an entire world responded.

Many consider it the greatest team ever assembled and wow what a team it was. Start with three of the game's all-time greats: Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Add the irrepressible Charles Barkley for a little spice, as well as seven more NBA All-Stars: centers David Robinson and Patrick Ewing, power forward Karl Malone, swingmen Scottie Pippen, Chris Mullin and Clyde Drexler and point guard John Stockton. Complete the roster with Christian Laettner, the best college player of 1991-92 and a future NBA All-Star.

Top 10 Highlights from the original Dream Team of 1992 in Barcelona

This year's team has been dubbed: The Redeem Team...

The U.S. men's basketball team was named June 23 and consists of NBA players in the USA Basketball program. Changes can be made after June 23, but only due to injury. Team USA qualified for the Olympics by winning the 2007 FIBA Americas tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada. It defeated defending Olympic champion Argentina in the final.

“We want to show the world that we can play the game the right way and play as a team,” said Jason Kidd, who is 44-0 on the international stage. “I think that’s what the international teams have started to understand to play as a team and win as a team. If we can get to that level, and we showed that last summer, we can be as good as anyone in the world.”

Team USA will try to redeem themselves in this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing after a bronze medal finish in the 2004 Athens Games. The team is headlined by the usual NBA All-Stars, but this year's team is headed by Duke's Coach K with a team first approach. The 2008 Roster includes:

Carmelo Anthony

Carlos Boozer

Chris Bosh

Kobe Bryant

Dwight Howard

LeBron James

Jason Kidd

Chris Paul

Tayshaun Prince

Michael Redd

Dwyane Wade

Deron Williams

How do you think this years team will do in Beijing or compare to the original Dream Team?

Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd, Dwayne Wade and the rest of Team USA discuss expectations in Beijing.(NYPost.com)

Blog Posts From Active.com 2008 Olympics Tagged With dream_team

USA Basketball: USA 97 - Angola 76

USA Basketball: "The Redeem Team?"