What USA Basketball's past Olympic losses mean for 2016

Still the favorite for the gold, the USA men's basketball team has had a few close calls in the past week during pool play. After blowing through the exhibition games and crushing China and Venezuela in the first Olympic matches, Team USA fought off a tough Australian team by 10, then a scrappy Serbia squad and an experienced France team by just three points apiece.  

While the makeup of this American team isn't necessarily "dreamy" (no LeBron James, Steph Curry, Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis, etc., and only four NBA rings among this bunch), it is still made up of nothing but NBA talent and reached the knockout round undefeated. However, anything but a gold medal win would be shockingly disappointing, yet given the recent play, not out of the question.

The national men's hoops team is now 135-5 all time in Olympic play. Of countries that still exist, Lithuania has the second best record at 29-17 (the Soviet Union is second all time of any country, with a 61-13 mark). Any loss by the Americans in the Olympics is news-worthy, and if this team did so this coming week, it would be no less stunning.

Let's take a look at those five loss the United States has suffered in Olympic play and examine what they might mean for this year's squad.

1972: SOVIET UNION 51, USA 50

This was by far the most stunning and most controversial of the five losses. Heading into the game, the United States was 63-0 in the Olympics and had won gold in all seven previous games. In this gold medal game at the height of the Cold War, a confusing turn of events gave us one of the most debated endings of any basketball game anywhere. After Doug Collins hit two free throws with three seconds remaining to give the U.S. a 50-49 lead, the Soviets had three shots to win the game. On the third, they did so, winning 51-50.

After Collins hit his second free throw, a buzzer sounded, and the Soviets inbounded the ball and failed to score. While the Americans were celebrating, one referee said he blew his whistle due to the horn sounding and decided that there should be one second left in the game. Again, the Soviets couldn't score off the inbounds play, and the Americans believed they won. However, the secretary general of FIBA came down from the crowd and ordered that the clock be set back to three seconds (when the original buzzer sounded) and that the game should be replayed from that point. Alexander Belov then caught a long inbound pass and scored to give the USSR the win and their first hoops gold medal.

Team USA was obviously outraged and filed a protest but to no avail. The United States was awarded the silver medal, which the Americans famously refused, as none of the players showed up to accept their medals at the ceremony in Munich. To this day, all 12 players' medals are stored at a facility in Switzerland. 

That story is well-known among Olympic basketball fans. But to put this loss in perspective, the 1972 United States team had won two of its Olympic games by at least 65 points, had just beaten Italy 68-38 and the closest margin of victory was a 13-point win over Brazil.

Does the ghost of the 1972 defeat hang around this Rio team? To be honest, failure to win the gold in Brazil would probably go down as the second most jaw-dropping defeat in USA Olympic basketball history. Again, while this isn't the dream squad we wanted in Brazil, there are still scoring champions and NBA Finals champions on the roster, and this team shouldn't lose to a draw that sees several nations at a crossroads.  

1988: SOVIET UNION 82-USA 76

In Seoul, the Soviets beat the Americans for the second time, this time in the semifinals. The USSR was led by Arvydas Sabonis and Sharunas Marchulenis, two players who had very good NBA careers, and the Soviets were a much more experienced unit than the college-aged Americans. Unlike the 1972 game, there were no referee or clock miscues — the United States was simply beaten with no controversy. Team USA came home with the bronze.  

Understand that this was quite a huge event. After the United States lost in Munich to the USSR, it wouldn't play again on this stage for 16 years. The Soviets were shocked by Yugoslavia in 1976 and never faced the USA, while the nations then boycotted each others' games in 1980 and 1984.  

This was a seminal moment in Olympic basketball. The Soviets, like several other nations, had older and more experienced players on their roster, and their team had spent more time together. Even though the '88 American team had nice players like David Robinson, Danny Manning, Mitch Richmond and J.R. Reid, the players were very young and had spent relatively little time together. The youth showed as the USA didn't go after loose balls and was rattled by the cagey Soviet Union. This game helped the International Olympic Committee push to allow NBA players into the Olympics, which, in turn, globalized basketball and transformed the NBA into a diverse, multinational league.

How does this loss in 1988 compare to our guys this year? It seems complacency and effort could be the link. Not to say that the 2016 team doesn't hustle, but it is noted that Australia, Serbia and France all tried to do the little things to stick with the Americans and not get rattled when the USA went on a run, playing more physical and a more NBA-type game.

2004: PUERTO RICO 92-USA 73

When it happened, this was an absolute mind-blower. This was the first Olympic game that the United States lost since NBA players were allowed to participate. It was also the Americans' first loss in pool play. It was the first loss to anyone other than the USSR, which broke up in 1991, and it remains the worst beating the USA has ever suffered in Olympic play.  

Carlos Arroyo, who had a nice NBA career, tore up the Americans for 24 points and seven assists. Puerto Rico outscored the U.S. 28-7 in the second quarter, and the United States just couldn't recover.

When looking at the 2004 Summer Games in hindsight, this isn't such a shocker. Team USA would go on to lose two more games in Athens (of the five all-time losses, three were by this team). It is amazing when you think that this roster included Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Stephon Marbury and Amar'e Stoudemire, but for some reason, the team just couldn't gel as a unit.

2004: LITHUANIA 94-USA 90

This loss was also in pool play. After losing to Puerto Rico, the United States struggled against host Greece (six-point win) and Australia (10-point win) before losing to Lithuania. Team USA finished fourth in the group and had the worst seeding entering the knockout round. Lithuania won the group with an undefeated record.

2004: ARGENTINA 89-USA 81

After losing to Lithuania, the United States showed signs of life by beating a very good Spain team (Spain cruised to win its group with a 5-0 record) in the quarterfinals of the knockout round. However, Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola, Andres Nocioni, Carlos Delfino and the Argentine team knocked the U.S. out of a gold by winning this semifinal matchup.

Argentina went on to win the gold medal, joining the United States, Soviet Union and Yugoslavia as the only nations to do so.  

The outcome of these three losses, combined with the 2002 team's awful sixth-place showing in the FIBA World Championship in Indianapolis, was that USA Basketball went into an overhaul. The program shifted course, wanting players to commit to multiple years and trying to bring back the best NBA players to the Olympics. The Americans also hired Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski to helm the program. It worked as some of the top NBA players joined up to play in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. The "Redeem Team" brought back the gold, and the United States has yet to lose an Olympic game under this new-look format.

That hooks us back into this 2016 team in Rio. Like in 1988 and 2004, it seems as if the rest of the world has caught up to the Americans in talent, skill and coaching. In 1988, the international teams were as good or better than a team made of college players. In 2004, other countries had enough talent to be on equal footing as a U.S. team made up of NBA players. Now, it seems, the rest of the world has great players like we do. There are several current, former and future NBA players on many countries' teams in Rio, and unlike '88 or '04, there isn't an easy way to quickly pull ahead.

We've already have professionals playing, and some of the NBA's best (nine All-Stars this past season) are on this current U.S. roster. Aside from taking an NBA team's roster and supplementing it with other NBA stars (take, say, the 2016 Golden State Warriors and instead of Leonardo Barbosa, Andrew Bogut, Festus Ezeli, etc., bring on Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and LeBron James), there really isn't much room to grow.

Still, the 2016 men's team is three wins from a gold, but it won't be easy. The Americans face Argentina, the last team to beat them, on Wednesday. Win that, and it will be the France-Spain winner (two of the best teams in the Olympics) next. Win that contest too, and then they play for the gold.

If they can take from the lessons of the three teams and the five losses from previous Olympics, they should be able to do the expected and bring the gold medal back to the United States, but as we've learned over the decades, it's anything but a given in today's global basketball landscape.