The Art of Redemption: USA vs Argentina 2006-2008

The Art of Redemption: A series of videos featuring Team USA avenging each of their international losses in the 2000s leading up to the 2010 World Championships.

On September 4th, 2002. I attended a game in Downtown Indianapolis that would trigger a chain of events for remainder of the decade. On this day Manu Ginobli & Argentina defeated the United States in the Fiba World Championship. The win broke a staggering 56 game winning streak of NBA players in international competition since 1992.

The United States came back in the 2003 Fiba Americas Tournament & defeated the same Argentina team twice. These wins are rarely mentioned in history because the following year in Athens, Greece at the Olympics, Argentina shocked USA again in the Semi-finals of the 04 tournament, denying the USA a shot at the gold medal.

Following 2004, USA Basketball changed their mindsets. They have played Argentina 4 times since, once in 2006, twice in 2007, & once in 2008. All United States victories.

The game in 2002 got me really interested in International Basketball. For all the talk about European basketball, Argentina, a South American country has really been the US's real rival in the 2000s. These videos are done with the utmost respect of those countries who have been able to compete & defeat the United States.