The Redeem Team (2022) - full transcript

- [KOBE] What's up? How you feeling?
- [LEBRON] Chillin'. What's going on?

[MAN 1] Bron, you're
on that side of the couch.

- [MAN 2] Bron right here.
- [LEBRON] Okay.

- [MAN 1] Yeah.
- Bron right here, Kobe on that corner.

[INTERVIEWER] All right, Kobe.
So you won the gold.

Where would this stack up?

[KOBE] Well, it's a higher priority.
You're representing your country,

and you're competing
against basketball players

who are the best in their country.

To me, that holds a greater significance.

[INTERVIEWER] When did it sink in this is
something much bigger than yourself?



You know, it's, uh... to me,
it's just walking around every day.

Just, you know,
whether I'm going to the grocery store

or going to pick up coffee
or whatever it is,

people just coming on the street
and just saying, "Bring back the gold."

You see a guy with a Celtics jersey
at Disneyland, I'm ready to kill him.

'Cause he's wearing
a Garnett jersey, you know, I'm pissed.

I'm thinking he going
to say something smart about the Finals.

"Bring back the gold for us."

Enough said.

Enough said. Bring back the gold.

[INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING]

[FIREWORKS WHISTLING]

[SPORTSCASTER] Welcome to Beijing,

the Opening Ceremony
of the 2008 Summer Games.



[INTENSE MUSIC CONTINUES]

The moment has arrived.

[PERFORMERS CHEERING]

[SPORTSCASTER] And the focus
of China and the world

is on the National Stadium.

[ALL BANGING IN UNISON]

If you follow basketball, then you know
the nickname of this year's squad.

The Redeem Team.

[SPORTSCASTER] They've been dubbed
the Redeem Team.

[REPORTER] The Redeem Team.

The Redeem Team, because of
the past failures internationally.

[ALL SHOUTING]

[REPORTER 2] There's a new era
in Olympic basketball,

and it's one in which
the United States is no longer dominant.

[COACH] The money
and the greed of the NBA,

is that having an effect
upon our competitive nature?

Yeah. You could write that.

We'd lost respect internationally.
We had lost respect for ourselves.

[REPORTER 3] Melo,
what happened out there?

I don't know. I wasn't out there.

There was a snowball effect
of just negativity.

[JOURNALIST] Into this mess,

they all brought
their own individual stories.

[JOURNALIST 2] Kobe
was keeping to himself.

He never seemed to find any common ground.

[LEBRON] I felt like I was
the best basketball player in the world,

but I still hadn't proven enough.

[REPORTER 4] There's a ghost
haunting every play.

The ghost of defeat.

There was a hunger about that '08 team.
There was a hunger.

[DWYANE] We had a lot of things
that we needed to show the world.

And it wasn't just basketball.

[INTENSE MUSIC FADES]

[FLASHBULB CLICKS]

[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]

[MAN] Get out there, Mike!

[MAN 2] Okay! [GRUNTS]

This is the most important thing
that we will ever do as coaches.

The thing that I've learned
over the last two years

is what great heart and courage
all of you guys have.

This team has been
put together to win internationally.

We have the three best point guards
in the world.

You have Dwyane,

Carmelo, LeBron,

and Kobe.

This team has 12 guys

who can fucking win
an Olympic championship,

and you don't know which one of you
is gonna be called upon

at a moment
to play a significant role in a huge win.

[PLAYERS SHOUTING, GRUNTING]

[MAN] I got you outside!

[JOURNALIST] A lot of them were not known
as great team players.

Kobe was individual.

LeBron still hadn't proven himself
to anybody as being any kind of a leader.

All run by a coach who was from the army.

And it was the challenge of their lives.

[CLAPPING]

Way to run the floor, boy!

How are we gonna win?
What are we gonna win?

What are we gonna establish?

Is it just to qualify
for the fucking Olympics?

If that's the only reason we're here,
that's too shallow.

[CARMELO] Mind you,
from '04 to that point,

we was losing.

Team USA Basketball was at the bottom.

[COACH] When you're on the US team,
you're supposed to win all the time.

You're supposed to be perfect.

These guys were not.

["MAKE THE ROAD BY WALKING"
BY MENAHAN STREET BAND PLAYING]

[SPORTSCASTER] The scoreboard
tells the story in a nutshell.

USA 89, Russia 55.

And America holds
the world championship of basketball.

[CROWD CHEERING]

[ANNOUNCER] Gold medalists,

the United States of America.

[ANNOUNCER 2]
The United States of America.

[ANNOUNCER 3] The United States
capture another championship

without loss of a game.

[JOURNALIST] Basketball at the Olympics,
the gold medal was America's to lose.

It was news if it was even a close game.

[JOURNALIST 2] US basketball
always was so dominant,

and we had the big stars of the game.

But, you know, also we came to the notion,

"Just because we're Americans,
we're better."

You know, if you were
from Europe or South America,

well, you couldn't be as good
'cause you weren't American.

And that wasn't true.

They had the same ability to... to gain
expertise in basketball that we did.

[INTRIGUING MUSIC PLAYING]

[SPORTSCASTER] Welcome to the semifinals.

It's the United States
and the Soviet Union.

The drama beginning to build.

[SPORTSCASTER 2] We're underway!

Last time they played was
16 years ago in Munich.

The only time the American team
has ever lost an Olympic basketball game.

People in the USA, sports fans,
we took it for granted.

"When it comes to the Olympics,
it's our game."

"We invented it. We're gonna win.
It doesn't matter who shows up."

That's what we thought.

[SPORTSCASTER 2] Coles... tough defense.
Sabonis rips down another...

It's a two-on-one break. Marčiulionis...

And that should do it for the Soviets.

[CROWD CHEERING]

The United States goes home stunned.

[REPORTER] How big a win was it?

US came into this game
with an 84 and 1 Olympic record overall,

having won nine of ten gold medals.

Bottom line may have been
the Soviet experience,

which, uh, may accelerate
the push in the United States

to allow NBA pros
to compete in the Olympics.

[SMITH] American USA Basketball
starts to panic

and says, "You know,
we got to put together something

that represents American basketball."

And so who shows up in 1992?

["HIGHER BABY"
BY DJ JAZZY JEFF AND FRESH PRINCE PLAYING]

[ANNOUNCER] Ladies and gentlemen,
the US Olympic Dream Team.

♪ Boom in your face
Now take that ♪

♪ Get on track
Or you best step back... ♪

[SPORTSCASTER] This group may well be
the greatest team ever assembled

in the history of team sports.

[CROWD CHEERING]

You know, when your opposition is asking
for autographs before the game,

you've got a little bit
of an edge on them.

They did the best they could,
but they were totally overwhelmed.

[CROWD CHEERING]

[COLANGELO] It brought back
a little bit of glory for the USA.

♪ O say, does that star-spangled banner... ♪

But, you know,
the Dream Team wasn't about patriotism.

[SOLEMN MUSIC PLAYING]

It wasn't doing it for America.
It's really, "Do it for the NBA."

[CROWD CHEERING, WHISTLING]

[REPORTER] This, of course,
is the Dream Team,

whose declared purpose is
to win back US basketball honor.

But it's here for another purpose as well.
It's taking care of business.

We think we have a great American product,
and we would like to market it

on a global basis with as much, uh, class
and success as we possibly can.

[SOLEMN MUSIC CONTINUES]

[REPORTER 2] This team of All-Stars
is almost too good.

Some think we should go back
to the collegiates. It's been too easy.

I think then we ought to ban
the African runners

from the 10,000 meters,
because they make it look so easy as well.

- [REPORTER 2 LAUGHS]
- This is about our best.

This is wonderful
for the sport of basketball.

[SOLEMN MUSIC FADES]

With the ninth pick in the 1998 NBA Draft,

the Milwaukee Bucks select

Dirk Nowitzki from Würzburg, Germany.

The San Antonio Spurs select

Emanuel Ginóbili from Argentina.

The Atlanta Hawks select

Pau Gasol

from FC Barcelona, Spain.

[CROWD CHEERING]

[COACH] Basketball took off
to another level after that worldwide.

The international game was improving
by leaps and bounds.

It was a jolt.

This next wave that comes along,
inspired by the Dream Team,

they were more competitive, and they were
a greater threat to USA Basketball.

'92, it was introduced as a global game,

but the game was starting
to catch up to us.

We talk about these different countries,

they have talented basketball players
who have been taught the fundamentals.

- [GRUNTING]
- [CROWD CHEERING]

Now, the world is not afraid.
The scare factor was gone.

[CROWD CHEERING]

[HELICOPTER BLADES WHIRRING]

[GEORGE W. BUSH] My fellow citizens,
at this hour,

American and coalition forces are
in the early stages of military operations

to disarm Iraq, to free its people,

and to defend the world from grave danger.

And now to the upcoming Olympic Games
in Greece,

where fear of terrorism
has left the lineup

for America's men's basketball team
up in the air.

Big-name NBA stars routinely lend
their talent to take home the gold,

but this time, some are saying no.

[REPORTER] When it comes to excuses,
coach Larry Brown has heard them all.

Jason Kidd has a sore knee.

Shaquille O'Neal says he's waiting to see

how far the Lakers advance
in the playoffs.

[ADANDE] If you look at the environment
hovering over the 2004 Olympics,

that was the first Summer Games
after 9/11,

and with the invasion of Iraq,

now there's this sense
that America is acting unilaterally

and is starting to become
an unwelcome guest around the world.

So there were
legitimate safety and security concerns.

And all these players
who had already participated

in '96 and 2000

didn't feel the need to go back
and do that again.

I remember watching it via TV,

and you just see
some of the players not wanna go.

It just became this epidemic.

The NBA put a lot of pressure on
in terms of adding some future stars.

Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony,
and LeBron James.

[LEBRON] I didn't think I earned
an opportunity to be on that team.

You know, literally, this is the summer
right after my rookie year,

and all I'm thinking about is
hanging out with my friends,

hanging out with my family, and training.

[DWYANE] I just finished my rookie season,

and I'm in summertime in Chicago,
hanging with my family,

and I get a call asking me to be
a part of the Olympic team,

and I'm like... "What?" [CHUCKLES]

["TITLES" BY JON BRION PLAYING]

[CARMELO] Nine guys drop out.

So they had to fill those spots,
and we got the call,

like, "Would y'all want
to be a part of this USA Team?"

I'm like, "Hell, yeah."
Like, "C'mon, let's do it."

["TITLES" CONTINUES]

[DWYANE] "Oh my God, they asked me
to be a part of something

that I remember being
so incredible with the Dream Team."

"Sign me up."

But mind you, we got the call saying,
"If y'all want to play,

y'all gotta meet us
in Jacksonville in two weeks."

We didn't know what to expect.
Everybody had backed out.

This was going to be
our moment to go over there

and get, you know, a gold medal.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]

I remember going to Jacksonville,
seeing the US team.

It was separated.
It was like two different teams.

Like, you had AI and Marbury, Tim Duncan.

And then you had the younger guys,

the rookies who was just...
who was coming into the league.

[LEBRON] You look at all the younger crew,
you know, myself and Melo, D Wade,

you know, we just trying to figure out,
like, how do we fit into this?

We're young. We up and down,
dunks, lobs, this and that.

[UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING]

[EXCLAIMS]

It was a disconnect between both groups.

It was like, "Oh, we have this young group
of guys that's coming on board."

Then you had the older guys, just like,

"This is our shit.
We gotta make this work."

And then you just had

Larry Brown.

We've played a certain way
for the last five or six years.

All right? We gotta...
we gotta change right now.

We had a group of guys that...

I think Coach was trying
to prove a point with the Olympics,

that he could get all of us to play
"the right way," which was "his way."

We're ready to take the roll.

You go screen...

This has become a world sport.

We better respect the people we play,
or we're gonna be in trouble.

[REPORTER] Do you have a sense
that people are saying,

"Well, this might be
the team that can't win the gold"?

We got a lot of doubters out there
for the simple fact we're a young team.

I don't think a lot of people think
that young players could do it.

So we gotta prove ourselves.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]

The Olympic Games are here in Greece,
which one local official described

as "a convenient intersection
in a bad neighborhood."

[NEWSCASTER] The players
and their families will stay

on a cruise ship off the Greek coast

while being protected
by Greek and American authorities

during the Games.

[CARLOS] We're not in the Olympic Village.
We're not by the Olympians.

It didn't really feel like
we're a part of the Olympic experience.

[SPORTSCASTER] It starts with Puerto Rico.

Will the United States men win
another gold medal?

Will they suffer a loss for the first time

in Olympic play
since NBA players were allowed to compete?

Those questions will be answered
with this game.

[DWYANE] If you look at the names
on the team, you're like,

"We g... we good. Let's go do this."

[INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING]

[ANNOUNCER] Iverson to Marion!

[WHISTLE BLOWING]

Not only America thought we're gonna win,
we weren't paying attention,

we thought we're gonna win so much.

[ANNOUNCER] ...pick-and-roll, Puerto Rico.

Nice feed inside!

And Puerto Rico
opens up a nine-point lead.

Most of the reporters
were at other venues.

We were covering skeet shooting
and track and field and swimming.

Nobody was even paying attention.

[ANNOUNCER] Carmelo Anthony.

Beautiful save by Ayuso.

Carlos Arroyo... Oh, what a ball fake!

[MAN] I remember
the game against Puerto Rico.

I remember Mike Breen and I,
we were doing the game.

And we looked at each other, and we go,
"Uh-oh, this team is in trouble."

[ANNOUNCER] Arroyo draws the foul.
And one!

We didn't take Puerto Rico
with the respect they deserved,

and they, uh... they kicked our ass.

[ANNOUNCER] It's finally happened.

The United States loses
in Olympic play with NBA players.

But that first game against Puerto Rico
really let us know, like,

"Damn, like, okay, we... we fucking around."

"We... we gotta get our shit together."

Lots of people are talking about
the American men's basketball team.

It was, by any stretch of the imagination,
a complete upset and an embarrassment.

They were called the "Dream Team,"

but now some people are calling them
the "Cream Team."

The younger guys,
we were pissed at Larry Brown,

because he didn't play us.

[REPORTER] Melo, what happened
out there, you think?

I don't know.
I wasn't out there. I don't think...

They scored more points than us.
That's all I can say.

We thought, "We should be playing
because we could help this team win."

But Larry Brown didn't...

He didn't think that we could
as much as the veteran guys.

- [MAN] They can still win.
- They can still win.

- That's what I was looking for.
- It's a round-robin event.

- It's conceivable they could win gold.
- Right.

[SPORTSCASTER] We're going to bring you

live coverage
of the United States and Argentina.

The spot in tomorrow's gold medal game
on the line.

You can tell immediately
that they had this chemistry.

[ANNOUNCER] Argentina has such open looks.
They pass the ball so well.

[ANNOUNCER 2] There's Sánchez spotting up
and shooting the three.

They was more cohesive.
They was more running plays.

They was running sets.

[ANNOUNCER] Ginóbili, wide-open three.

[CROWD CHEERING]

You could tell they had spent real time,

like years and years
playing with each other.

[ANNOUNCER 2] Count it, and a foul!

They could pass the ball right here
and know that the guy is cutting.

[ANNOUNCER] Ginóbili.

Sánchez threads the needle to Oberto.

They just had the chemistry.
They had the teamwork.

They had the camaraderie.
They had everything out on the floor.

I mean, they just...

they played the game
how the game's supposed to be played.

[ANNOUNCER] Sconochini,
fancy to Montecchia.

Oh, what a fancy play.

There'll be no gold in Athens.

And there's the exclamation point.

The United States men fail
to win it all at the Olympic Games.

It was ugly to watch.

It was terrible to watch
and terrible to be a part of.

[ANNOUNCER] They might be starting to say
there's a new era in Olympic basketball,

and it's one in which
the United States is no longer dominant.

They're great players.
They're the best team.

In terms of individual players,
they're the best.

But this is a team sport.
So you play five-on-five.

You don't play one-on-one.
It's not tennis.

[CARMELO] We was just a whole bunch of...
kind of just bullshit thrown together

and said, "Go out there
and... and... and win us a gold medal."

There was no culture with Team USA.

There was no culture at all.

[ANNOUNCER] The United States
set to receive their bronze medals.

You can see from their body language,

they're disappointed.

Well, I'm watching it
here in Durham, North Carolina,

and, uh... agonizing.

[ANNOUNCER 2] And you see
the joy in Argentina.

[CROWD CHEERING]

[KRZYZEWSKI] The other countries
don't take anything for granted.

They have a national team.

Argentina,

those guys were together
since they were 18 years old.

They're brothers.

[CROWD CHEERING, WHISTLING]

[LEBRON] There wasn't a lot of time.

We had to figure out how
to become a team in two weeks.

I was young, but I understood

what it meant
to build chemistry in order to win.

[KRZYZEWSKI] We had it
with the Dream Team,

and then there was
no continuity after that.

["ARGENTINE NATIONAL ANTHEM" PLAYING]

[CROWD WHISTLING]

[CROWD CHEERING]

[CARMELO] Coming back home

and the disrespect
that we were getting from our own country.

There were songs about us.
Everybody was talking about us.

["WHY (REMIX)" BY JADAKISS PLAYING]

♪ Why Team USA keep gettin' blown out? ♪

You know, "These players suck,"
and, "The rest of the world's caught up."

"How do you lose to Puerto Rico?"

Finally, these men,

A, are on line to buy tickets,
B, have traveled far to see the games,

C, just defeated
the United States Men's Basketball Team.

[AUDIENCE LAUGHING]

It was just a snowball effect
of... of just negativity.

[ANNOUNCER] The United States men
settle for the bronze.

I'm sitting up on the podium, you know,
receiving the bronze like,

"This shit was a waste of my time."

At that moment,
I definitely wasn't playing

for Team USA again.

Still stinging
from their bronze-medal showing

in Athens last summer,

USA Basketball has revamped itself
and has turned over power

to Jerry Colangelo.

[SPORTSCASTER] Almost everything
Jerry Colangelo touches works.

Particularly start-up projects.

He was involved with a start-up project
that became the Chicago Bulls in 1966.

He then went out west to Arizona,

and he started up three
out of the four teams out there.

[COLANGELO] Back in early 2004,

my net worth was really wrapped up
in the Phoenix Suns.

So I decided to sell the team.

I knew it was gonna leave
some kind of a void.

And I said, "You know, what's next?"

It was just a couple of weeks later
when I got that call about USA Basketball.

You know, I basically said,
"I... I'll do it. I'll do it."

"But no more committees."

"I'll pick the coaches.
I'll pick the players."

Colangelo will pick them
without a committee.

- You don't think that's too much power?
- [SPORTSCASTER] Probably.

- This guy gets it done.
- You trust him?

I do. I do trust him.

I had some names
up on a board of... of coaches.

Let's talk about coaches.

Dean Smith,
from North Carolina, obviously, said,

"There's only one coach
who could get the job done,

who has the respect of all the players."

"He stands alone. He's the only one."

It was Coach K at Duke.

[ANNOUNCER] The Duke of Destiny
has won it!

For the first time in two decades,
college basketball has a repeat champion.

[UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING]

[CARLOS] It's like the Yankees.
Either you love 'em or you hate 'em.

That's how Duke was
because of the success.

Growing up in the inner city,
you hate Duke.

You just hate Duke.
You hate Christian Laettner.

You hate JJ Redick.

You hate Coach K.

You hate the damn Blue Devil.

There was no, like... excitement

when Coach K was, uh, appointed
that position with Team USA.

[CARMELO] When they announced
that he was coming on,

our first thought was, like,

"Yo, how is he going to handle
all these players

that's on this team as a college coach?"

I had a lot of concerns.
One is just the credibility

that I would have with the NBA players.

Obviously, I had achieved
a lot in the collegiate ranks,

but NBA's different.

The thing that changed right away was that
you weren't gonna be the Olympic coach.

You were gonna be the national coach.

That was a step of trying
to have one coach have a four-year period

where they were running a program.

You have to put a team together.
It can't be fantasy basketball.

It can be All-Stars,
but they have to fit roles.

[LEBRON] Coach K and Jerry,
they stressed that from the beginning.

It needed to be a commitment
where you really took it serious

and not just some old one-off.

If you want to be a part of this,
you have to commit,

you know, three summers, right away.

[ROCK MUSIC PLAYING]

- What's up?
- What's up, man?

Guys seem in a good mood.

- What's up? What's going on?
- Is that what you want?

[KRZYZEWSKI] Good seeing you.

[CARLOS] Our whole team met
in Vegas for a training camp,

and in the very first meeting,
Coach K says,

"This is not our game."

"This is the world's game."

[CARMELO] I remember he was mad.
He was livid about that.

Like, we got to respect
everybody in the rest of the world.

From day one,
he established himself as that guy.

Like, "Listen, I'm not here
to tell you guys what to do."

"You guys are professionals,
but this is a working relationship."

"I want y'all to talk to me.
I want to be open. I want to be honest."

[KRZYZEWSKI] What you have to understand,
in order to win a fight,

you have to know who you're fighting.

You're fighting somebody
who thinks that they're Superman.

They have nothing to lose.

From the get-go, the pressure was on.
We lost last time.

We're supposed to be
the best in the world.

So with the national team concept,
if you're not coming in

and taking it seriously, you won't last.

[INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING]

After we lost '04, we all felt like
we were letting USA Basketball down,

especially us four guys.

You know, myself, D Wade, Bron, and Melo,

we were a part of that team,
and we felt that agony of defeat.

[DWYANE] I think early on,
it was looked at as,

"International players are soft, right?"

"American players are tough."

Once you start looking at it,
you're like, "No, they're not soft."

"They're skilled.
They play the game a different way."

We have to learn their game
and quit making excuses

and quit trying to impose
our game on theirs.

If we learn their game, we will beat them.

You all and I don't know everything.

We especially don't know
what each other knows.

That's what practice is about,
is all getting on the same page.

[LEBRON] The first thing
that surprised me about Coach K

was that he didn't give a fuck
about nobody's résumé,

but he always did it with respect.

I've always gotten the best out of myself

playing for someone
that holds everybody accountable.

- Coming left! Coming left!
- [PLAYER] Get up there! Yep! Yep!

This is the way we play on the US team.

No matter who is playing on it,
who's coaching it or whatever.

This is the way
the United States team should play.

Good, good.

He was the one who told us, "Hey,
I don't want y'all to not come in here

with y'all egos and y'all pride.
That's who make y'all who y'all are."

You have to give me the egos that you have

in your current basketball teams.

Bring 'em to this team.

Okay? And put it under one ego umbrella.

[DWYANE] I remember sitting there
watching and hearing him say that.

I was like, "That makes sense."

Get up, Brad. Get up, Brad.

Uh-huh. Right there.

[KRZYZEWSKI] The thing
I'm most surprised about

is how well you talk to one another.

You guys are interacting well
in between drills.

There's a really good spirit
that needs to be developed.

You got it. Just keep developing.

Two times!

[PLAYERS EXCLAIMING]

[CHRIS PAUL] Trials was crazy.

We stayed at the Wynn in Vegas
for like a month.

We lived in Vegas for like a month.

That's when a lot of the relationships
that you see were sort of forged.

[INDISTINCT CHATTERING]

I got no say on the bus!

Get on the bus!

[MAN] Grab the bags, man!

[CHRIS PAUL] I can't get on.

I can't get on!

There was a group of us that played cards
every single night for 35 straight days.

You know, 35 days,
you're gone from your family,

but you're able to, um...
you know, it's another family.

It's like another part of your family.
It's like I never left home.

- You feel me?
- I'm the best-looking one of the crew.

So you know, it... it's... you know,

they like my bodyguards,
you know what I'm saying? [LAUGHS]

[CARMELO] No. No. [LAUGHS]

I would rather you say, "I got a ring,"
than just say what you just said.

[ALL LAUGHING]

Know what I'm saying?

[KRZYZEWSKI] Listen, for all you guys,
and it's important.

I really want you to pay close attention.

This morning,
we have people who represent us,

and... people don't get a chance
to look up to 'em.

You don't even know
what... what they... what they do.

[CARMELO] Coach K is a motivator,

and that's what he did.

Each day, we had a different person
come in there, talk to us.

[KRZYZEWSKI] There's
no more important thing

we're gonna do today than listen

to what these heroes have to say to us.

[MAN] Coach K being a West Point grad,
he loves his country.

He loves serving his country.

So much of what he talked about,

there were always so many parallels
to his time in the military.

So that ran deep with him.

Let's face it. It's what makes
teams great, is selfless service.

It's putting the needs
of someone else before yourself.

On the basketball court,

that may be diving for the loose ball
or taking a charge.

On the battlefield, it may be
running into a... a... a wall of bullets.

Putting your life
on the line for someone else,

and... and that...
to that level of selfless service.

[CARLOS] When you're a great player,
you think you can do it by yourself.

I can win by myself.
I can score enough points. Whatever.

With Coach K, what he wants to do is,
you can do it,

but you can achieve more with a group
than you can individually.

It's a military mindset.

[BROWN] An explosion went off,
and a piece of shrapnel came

and hit him in the eyes.

It looks like, uh, his eyes are normal.

He does not have any eyes.
They were taken out

by that shrapnel
that went through his head.

[SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING]

And he's still serving.

That's a hero.

It definitely hit me in my emotions.

They showed us who
and what we were playing for.

These are the flags we wore
on our uniforms in Iraq,

and, uh, we got a flag
for each one of you.

I'm hoping they can put it
on your warm-up jerseys.

And what I'm hoping
is that you'll look down,

you'll see that flag,

and you'll realize thousands of people
have gone before you and sacrificed

so you can be a great basketball player.

[SOMBER MUSIC CONTINUES]

[DWYANE] Scotty, you hear me?

[CARMELO] We would be mic'd up.

We would say little things to him
in the mic and talk to him from the court.

Blue is getting into us right now.

So White Team,
we gotta pick it up as a team.

They're playing better than us.

[PLAYERS CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY]

[DWYANE] Y'all put y'all uniforms on.
I know y'all got a lot of pride.

We put these jerseys on,
we feel a lot of pride

walking around with USA on our chest.

So, I know y'all got a lot of pride.

You guys are role models
to a lot of us out here.

We don't get a chance to tell y'all.
Y'all are role models to us.

We respect what y'all do for our country.

[KRZYZEWSKI] Hearing those stories,
our players let their hearts be opened.

And as a result,

they became the US.

[UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING]

[SPORTSCASTER] And welcome
to a special edition

of the FIBA World Championship.

The United States will take
its first step this morning

in trying to reclaim the top spot
in the basketball world.

[ROCK MUSIC PLAYING]

FIBA Worlds in '06 was the first time
we went as a team with Coach K,

and what put even more pressure on
is that we needed to qualify for Beijing.

And we needed to win the tournament.

[KRZYZEWSKI] Every game we play,
we have to play it like it's a sprint,

not a marathon.

These games are gonna go real fast.

Let's not pick up any bad habits,

especially the habit
of overlooking anybody.

[CROWD CHEERING]

[ANNOUNCER] Big thing
for the United States is

you know there are gonna be jitters

because all these guys feel the pressure
of representing this team

and getting that gold medal.

[LEBRON] It ain't about an individual.
It ain't about us.

It ain't about us playing for our teams.
It's about the United States of America.

Let's do it for everybody
in the United States of America.

"USA" on three. One, two, three!

- [ALL] USA!
- Let's go!

[DWYANE] We were very good.

You could tell, like,
okay, we getting the swagger back.

[ANNOUNCER 2] They make it look so easy.

When they're hot, they're really hot.

[DWYANE] Every game, we did our job.

We came out, and we put teams away.

And we were playing very well.

[ANNOUNCER 3] Anthony.

Boy, how good has he been?

[ANNOUNCER 2] United States
are still on track

to march to the finals.

[ANNOUNCER 3] But trust me, Jim,
the competition will get tougher.

[ANNOUNCER 2] Well,
after 72 dates of competition,

it all comes down to
the number one seeds in each of the pools.

And we've got number one United States
going against number one Greece.

[KRZYZEWSKI] Don't be sloppy, okay?

And, uh, like you guys have done
the whole time,

let's be classy and... and go after it.

["TEHRAN" BY HEEN PLAYING]

[ANNOUNCER] Greece are
the European Champions.

That's how good these guys are
that the USA are playing.

You know, I remember that game
like it was yesterday.

They had a guy, "Baby Shaq."

[ANNOUNCER] And Baby Shaq,
Schortsanitis, he is a huge human being.

[ANNOUNCER 2] Up ahead
to big man Schortsanitis for the dunk!

And just like that, it's 36-35!

For one quarter, the third quarter,

we were horrible, and they were great.

[ANNOUNCER] The problem for the US team

is they haven't defended
the pick-and-roll.

- What a lovely pass!
- [ANNOUNCER 2] What a pass!

[ANNOUNCER] Oh my goodness me,
that's how it's done.

They're being picked to bits.

[DWYANE] They beat us
with our own offense.

The NBA, at that point, is
now a high pick-and-roll league.

They beat us with high pick-and-roll.

[ANNOUNCER] Diamantidis,
a pass back inside to go to the hoop...

It might look on the TV like,
"Why don't they just stop 'em?"

When you're playing in real time,
it's hard to figure out

what the hell is going on.

And they confidence kept going.

They was making shots.

They played the perfect game,

and we never got back.

[ANNOUNCER] He misses.
That's it. It's Greece!

They have defeated the United States!

The United States have crashed and burned
once again by the semifinal match.

[SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING]

[KRZYZEWSKI] When we lost
in 2006 in Japan,

I've never had a defeat worse than that.

[CROWD CHEERING]

I mean, you're coaching
your country's team, and you lose.

[CARMELO] I remember everybody's
in the locker room already after the loss,

and I'm just on the court,
and we looking at the celebration.

And it was just like... [CLICKS TONGUE]

..."We can never have
this feeling ever again."

[DWYANE] We did not want to go up
and get on that stand

and take those bronze medals,

'cause we was like,
"We are better than this."

It wasn't time.

You can't think
that things are gonna happen on your term.

I know I didn't feel as shitty
as I did when we lost in Athens,

but it wasn't the right time.

[PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING]

On behalf of USA Basketball,
I just want to welcome you back.

Last summer, we fell short
of something we wanted to do,

and that was win the World Championships

so that we wouldn't have to qualify
this summer.

And it didn't happen.

[KRZYZEWSKI] We lost in '06

because we thought we knew
the landscape, and we didn't.

We were gonna now learn
the game we were playing

instead of the game
that we played in the NBA.

I just want to tell you
some... some things that we're gonna do.

It wasn't natural.

That game was not natural for our play...

It's a different ball.

It has 12 panels instead of 8.

You can walk through the free-throw line
when someone's shooting.

You can touch the ball
off the rim in the Olympics.

It's, like, all these small rule things
that we weren't used to.

If you're down here
bumping without the ball

or cutting like they said this morning,

if you're cutting down
from the high post down to the low post,

he can get in my way, and there's no foul.
In the NBA, we can't do that anymore.

[KRZYZEWSKI] We had to get
a feel for the game, a feel for the ball,

a feel for the officials.

We had to learn a different game.

And we knew we needed some older players.

That's why we went out
and recruited Kobe Bryant.

- [MAN] What's up, man?
- How you doing?

[MAN] Good to see you. Welcome.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]

[PLASCHKE] Nobody brought more baggage
to Team USA than Kobe Bryant.

He had been ostracized by the league.

He came into this at a point of his career
where it could have gone either way.

He had run Shaquille O'Neal,
a beloved figure, out of LA.

They thought he snitched out
Shaq's personal life to the police.

[CROWD CHEERING]

They thought he was selfish.

[KOBE] We gotta do something this summer
and get a contender.

I don't want to be a one-man show.

He had demanded a trade in the parking lot

of a Ralphs grocery store
in Newport Beach.

Kobe Bryant today turning
the NBA world on its head.

- Are you saying you want to be traded?
- [KOBE] Yeah, I would like to be traded.

Says he wants out,
says he recants it and wants back.

[ADANDE] 2007 is an interesting point
in his career.

He's taken a hit.

And so Kobe is fighting
to regain his place.

He's fighting to restore his name as well.

[PLASCHKE] He had to prove
that he was a team player.

He had to prove that he was a good guy.

He had to prove himself
to everybody in the world.

We knew right away how serious it was.
And he always had a very serious demeanor.

You don't meet Kobe, and he's like,

"Hey, man! I'm Kobe!"

That's not the experience you have.
It's more like,

"This is Kobe Bryant."

"Nice to meet you."

I'm like, "Damn," you know? [LAUGHING]

[LEBRON] We was kind of surprised
that he wanted to be a part of Team USA

after everything that had went on.

I'm not one
to force a relationship with anyone,

but you sense Kobe is someone
who don't really want to be fucked with.

[PLASCHKE] Kobe did an interview,

and he talked about
talking with a couple of his NBA friends.

And the reporters, we laughed.

'Cause we knew he didn't have any friends.

["TOP SHELF"
BY OUTERSPACE FEAT. SADAT X PLAYING]

[ADANDE] Kobe had never taken the steps

to ingratiate himself
with the players around the league,

so they're still eyeing him
a little warily.

[CHRIS BOSH] I knew Kobe,
but I didn't know him.

Played basketball against him.

[ANNOUNCER] Kobe again! Yessir!

He's the best player ever.
And he was... he was almost untouchable.

♪ Get up, throw your hands in the air ♪

♪ Or shut up... ♪

[CARMELO] Man, Kob is a guy