Basketball: The World's Got Game

Dream Team no longer: The U.S. squad is learning a hard lesson in how the rest of the globe plays ball

Basketball has been a source of such exaggerated American pride for so long that it was hard not to admire Larry Brown's humility last week when it all sank in a sea of Puerto Rican flags. After the U.S. men's team lost to its little island cousin by an irrefutable 19 points, becoming the first Olympic squad to drop a game since the NBA started packing the team with stars in 1992, coach Brown said, "We got beat in every area. Every area." His mood did not improve following a clumsy 6-point victory over Euro doormat--but home favorite--Greece, and he was...

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