Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson and the rest of the U.S. basketball team fell 92-73 to Puerto Rico on Sunday, only the third Olympic defeat ever — and first since adding pros — for the nation that ruled the sport for three-quarters of a century.

It was by far the worst defeat for a U.S. men’s team, coming in the Americans’ first game of the Athens Olympics. Having it happen against a team they had dominated in the past 13 months only made it hurt worse.
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Puerto Rico, which had lost to the Americans five times since last July, led for more than 33 minutes of the 40-minute game, was ahead by 22 at halftime and gamely held off a fourth-quarter comeback for one of the greatest sports achievements in the territory’s history.
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The Americans shot only 35 percent, finished 3-for-24 from 3-point range and had nearly as many turnovers (22) as field goals (26).

“We couldn’t hit anything. I shot two off the side of the backboard. Never in my life have I done that,” Richard Jefferson said. “This was a worst-case scenario.”

Puerto Rico was 8-for-16 from long range and 31-55 (56 percent) overall to help negate the Americans’ 46-27 edge in rebounding.
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“They play the game the way it’s supposed to be played,” Iverson said. “It’s not about athletics. That’s the game the way Karl Malone and John Stockton play it. It’s good for kids to see how the game is supposed to be played.”
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As Carlos Arroyo left the court with just over a minute left, he defiantly pulled at the words “Puerto Rico” on his jersey. He led his team with 24 points.

“That was him telling his island of 4 million people he was very proud to beat the big colossal from the north,” Puerto Rico coach Julio Toro said.