How Kobe Bryant SAVED USA BASKETBALL - 2008 Redeem Team

[Applause] Argentina still had to chase the goal running past an Italian team that beat Argentina by one point in group play gold for Argentina silver for Italy bronze for the USA but this game will go down it's a big challenge for us you know obviously I mean I feel like the rest of the world kind of feels like the Gap is continuing to shorten and they feel like they can beat us you know we know it's at stake and we know it's at hand we know we're representing so you know come Olympic time we're gonna be ready to go and bring back the gold medal to the U.S when you think of USA Basketball three words that come to mind are dominance blowouts and gold as for the past 70 years USA Basketball has dominated on the international stage weighing 16 gold medals and having numerous unbeaten streaks yes they've had their hiccups their big time losses but after adding Pros in 1982 USA Basketball once again was the top of the world and heading the 21st century they're once again unbeaten and writing a 24-game win streak and I guess at this point you could say USA Basketball they got complacent and the overall roster wasn't constructed of the best basketball team as in the 04 Olympics in Athens agrees yes USA had talent but their overall team did not mesh well together as they had Allen Iverson Tim Duncan Stefan Marbury Sean Marion Lamar Odom aswolves Carlos Boozer and on the bench bet a young D Wade LeBron James as well as Carmelo Anthony once again this team had talent and they're a great collection of individual players but as an overall basketball team this is not USA's best going to the 04 Olympics and from the jump USA was blitzed as in their first opening game they lost to Puerto Rico by 19 points and that loss right there was only one of three as two weeks later they would lose to Lithuania by four points and the eventual gold medal Champions Argentina by eight points USA in this tournament they would meddle getting bronze but still was a massive disappointment given the overall talent in the standard for USA Basketball and as you could imagine after three embarrassing losses in the following tournaments the coaches were changed and the overall management of USA basketball was definitely shaken up but even with that being said many forget in the 06 FIFA World Cup USA once again lost and got bronze and this team unlike 04 was stacked with Superstar Talent they had LeBron James D Wade Carmelo Dwight Howard as well as Chris Paul and by losing this tournament and getting bronze that meant the following year in 07 USA had to take home gold and get first place so what did they do they brought in the man himself Kobe Bean Bryant who at this point had never suited up in the red white and blue and looking at him individually since o4 when Shaq got traded Kobe all those years was under immense pressure as Will's media scrutiny he'd missed the playoffs multiple times had first round losses blown leads and worst of all in 07 he even requested trade at this point in time the media and most non-lakers fans did not like Kobe they thought he was entitled spoiled and selfish and in the wrong for getting Shaq kicked out now even with all that pressure Kobe and the qualifying tournaments was simply fantastic averaging 15.3 points the third most on the team on insane 55-46 and 87 splits and for Team USA he was their overall leader in steals per game and looking at a very important moment for the redeemed team it was her first ever scrimmage in Las Vegas as Kobe in this moment with 15 000 fans watching the stadium he once again approved why he's the best player in the world as going head-to-head versus LeBron James Kobe in this game had 26 points on 10 of 22 shooting the game winner and the defensive stop on LeBron himself that moment and those two plays crystallized by Kobe was the best player in the world and for this team he was their clear-cut Alpha and their leader and for most younger NBA fans or fans who didn't watch the redeem team when you think of Kobe you automatically think of offense and scoring getting 81 points 62 and three quarters in his last game where once again dropped 60. but back in 08 for USA Kobe's main focus was setting the tone on the defensive end he's the best player in the league at that time he had 750 point games that year and he he knew that he would have to change a little bit and be a leader and and but he says I you know I want to guard the best perimeter player and then he pauses and you know his eyes he and Jordan had the same had the same eyes they killed you with their eyes and and he leans forward and he said because I promise you I'll destroy him foreign and looking at the 08 team of course you had Kobe LeBron James Blaine Wade Chris Paul Carmelo Chris Bosh Dwight Howard Darren Williams Jason Kidd as was taishan Prince as the main guys who played Big Time minutes and unlike previous tournaments in 04 this USA team off to a great start beating China by a whopping 31 points in the following games they beat Angola by 21 greased by 23 Spain by 37 and Germany by 49. if you go back and watch the games during the highlights you can tell the camera store is definitely building and guys like d-way and LeBron truly had something special and what made this team so different from the 04 team is in 08 you had Superstars making sacrifices and playing both ends as Kobe in this tournament was third on the team in scoring at 15 points compared to Dwyane Wade ravage 16 LeBron at 15.5 also one big difference you had a true point guard and Chris Paul who averaged four assists and LeBron who averaged 3.8 this Team USA top to bottom had great defensive players great Playmakers guy Dynamic scores and someone like Melo who's instant offense and Dwight Howard was a great rim protector and once again looking at Kobe individually in group play he had pretty impressive numbers but obviously he was saving himself and waiting for the tournament stage as in the first round versus Australia he had a team High 25 points five boards on 10-16 shooting and four seven from three they beat Australia by 30 and was a very impressive and dominant Victory and looking on to round two they would play Argentina and a rematch of the 04 Olympics in this game for Kobe offensively he only had 12 points on pretty piss-poor shooting but once again in 08 for Kobe he was a dual threat player who could play both ends and this matchup he played 32 minutes a game high picking up players full court pressuring them guarding picking rolls double teams doing whatever it took defensively to get the derby now finally getting to the gold medal game for Spain this matchup was definitely pretty intimidating as on the Spanish side we had Pau Gasol Rudy Fernandez Marc Gasol as walls Ricky Rubio and skipping right to the fourth quarter with eight minutes left it was a two-point game and a toss-up of who would get gold and taking one step back for Spain they're playing with house money as all the pressure was on USA and specifically Kobe being Bryant in this last fourth quarter I would argue this in those pressure a single player has ever had not only individually but for his country and the basketball world as if USA loses again it's a massive embarrassment and the redeemed team Falls flat in their face they don't avenge their bronze medals and Kobe as a leader is viewed as a failure in the media would dog pile him and even worse going into that fourth quarter Kobe was not having a good game only having eight points on sub 40 shooting with three turnovers but in that fourth quarter he had one of the greatest games of all time he was simply spectacular as he had 12 points three assists two huge threes the dagger floater and Ice the game from their free throw line it was a brilliant masterclass performance on refusing to lose and rolling your team to a victory and looking past the gold medal the tournament all the stats the impact Kobe had on his teammates was definitely felt the following NBA season as LeBron James won his first of four MVPs Dwight Howard made the NBA Finals Dwyane Wade averaged 30 a game the NBA scoring leader Carmelo Anthony and the Western Conference Finals his deepest power on ever and Chris Paul averaged 22.8 points per game the highest of his career and most impressive looking at the MVP voting all the top five finishers were part of the 08 redeem team and looking at Kobe himself from 08 to 2010 his accomplishments were massively impressive winning MVP the gold medal two files MEPS back-to-back championships beating 10 51 opponents and his Lakers team never winning less than 57 games those three years for Kobe were massively important and the overall narrative for his career changed instantly in that moment as always thanks guys for watching hope you enjoyed it I'll see you guys next time

Channel: Uncut Hoops

Views: 327,898

Keywords: kobe, destroyed, usa, redeem team, worst, espn, best ever, goat, legend, lakers, coach k

Id: GdGPgtmL7Zk

Length: 11min 3sec (663 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 22 2022