The USA has won gold in Olympic basketball for the past 30 years. The streak began with their complete dominance over their opponents in the 1992 Olympics with the Dream Team. But in 1988, the USA team struggled in the Olympics. The team did not have the best talent from the NBA that year. So they fell to third place and had to settle for bronze. This came with a lot of backlash from the media and the fans.

This led to the USA bringing out the best team they could make at the time for the 1992 Olympics. Out of 12 players on the team, nine of them were all NBA players that season. Even though the team dominated the whole run, there were many details that went on behind the scenes that led to the success of the team.

Secret behind the Dream Team’s success

Scottie Pippen was recently in Australia. In an interview with ESPN, Australian big man Luc Longley was asked about Scottie Pippen and what his best trait was as a player. Longley said that Pippen’s best trait is his generosity on the court and how he takes care of his teammates.

Pippen then went on to explain why Longley might be feeling that way about him. Pippen said, “I think it’s just part of my upbringing and how I learned the game of basketball.“

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Scottie Pippen talked about the importance of team play. The game is not an individual matchup. It’s always one team against the other. So the players have to understand that and play unselfishly.

Pippen said, “There’s an old saying that there’s no ‘I’ in team. I learned that very fast and understood that, if you want to be successful, there’s no room for any individual accolades unless the team is being successful.“

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According to him, in the Dream Team, there were no selfish plays. They all knew their goal. Losing to another team was unacceptable. So to redeem their lost crown, they were all focused on the goal, which was to get the gold medal.

How Michael Jordan sacrificed for the team’s success

Michael Jordan averaged 30.1 ppg in the NBA in 1992. But for the team to win in the Olympics, he knew the importance of playing with the team and sacrificing.

He averaged less than 15 ppg on the dream team. But the team, as a whole, defeated all their opponents by an average of 44 points. Every player was given their piece, and the team showed complete dominance. Charles Barkley was the top scorer on the team and averaged 18 ppg.

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With the USA set to form another super team for the next Olympics, they should try to use this method used by the Dream Team and play unselfishly to win the gold.