1990 world Cup semi-final against Yugoslavia (91: 99)
The USA national team: Douglas Smith, Mark Randall, Lee Mayberry, Henry Williams, Chris Smith, Kenny Anderson, Bryant Stith, Todd Day, Chris Gatling, Christian Leitner, Billy Owens, Alonzo Morning.
What we achieved:
all 12 were selected in the draft
1 member of the Hall of fame
4 players have been to the all-star Game 10 times (7 for Morning, plus once each for Anderson, Leitner and Gatling)
2 hits to the All-NBA team by one player (morning)
The 90th world Cup was the last major international tournament in which the United States was represented by University players. And we can not say that the Americans were let down by the Olympic format “one defeat and goodbye” – in the final of the 1990 goodwill Games in Seattle, the US team lost to Yugoslavia without Divac and Drazen (79: 85).
The world Cup-90 is also the peak of the Golden generation of the Yugoslav national team. A team that was supposed to dominate the entire 90’s, but which broke into pieces two years later. At the Olympic games-88, the leading performers (divats, Kukoch, Raja) were still too young (20-22 years old), so they gave up on the best team in the career of A. Gomelsky. The next Olympic cycle after the OI-88 turned out to be super-productive for the Yugoslavs – gold at two consecutive European Championships and victory at the world Cup. It should have ended with a battle with dream team At the games in Barcelona, but not fate.
Semifinal of the Olympic games-1988 against the USSR (76: 82)
What to pay attention to:
Gomelsky was not lying when he wrote in books that Sabonis was a key element for breaking the American pressure. On the 30th second of the broadcast, Sabonis starts the attack with a pass from behind. In the semifinals of the Olympics. Well, who else does that?!
Marciulionis and Sabonis – one of the strongest duos in the history of the teams. They proved this at Eurobasket 95 and the 1996 Olympics, but the grey cardinal of the most talented Lithuanian generation was Rimas Kurtinaitis. Throw from a distance, tenacious defense, the ability to make a quick attack. Nothing superfluous, rarely carries or overstays the ball.
A curious fact that I personally did not know: Kurtinaitis remains the only player who participated in the three-point shooting Contest on stars Weekend without being an NBA player.