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-[footsteps] -[producer] Come on in.
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-Here he comes. -[man] Cool.
[producer] You good, Mario?
-[man 2] Good. -[producer] All right?
-You good? -Yeah.
[producer] Okay, Ant, do you know the story of the Dream Team
and the first select team?
-Mm-mm. -No?
Supposedly there was one game the Dream Team lost.
Who was on it? Michael Jordan?
-[producer] Jordan, Bird, Magic. -Magic.
Oh, my God.
-David Robinson. -And they lost?
-Barkley. Karl Malone. -Karl Malone, yeah.
-Stockton. -Stockton.
Yeah.
It happens.
Yeah, it happens.
[chuckles]
-[helicopter blades whirring] -[siren wailing]
[dramatic music playing]
[reporter] There was some big NBA news during the week.
The International Basketball Federation voted to allow
professional basketball players to compete
in future Olympic Games and World Championships.
That means that NBA players will be eligible to compete
in Barcelona, Spain.
[reporter 2] This is a necessity
to bring basketball to its peak,
and will boost, ultimately, basketball
as a sport worldwide.
[people cheering]
[Costas] America's collegians have a rich history
in world competition,
and with professionals now in the picture,
it looks like the start of a promising new era.
[dramatic music continues]
[muffled yelling]
[whistle blows]
[man] It kept building and building and building.
They're gonna win by 60.
[crowd roars]
[crowd fades out]
[man 2] They've been called the greatest basketball team
ever created,
but if you think the Dream Team was unbeatable,
have I got a story for you.
[players chattering in video]
[man 2] There they are.
Michael.
Patrick Ewing.
Magic.
And me.
That was June 24th, 1992.
That was the day
we beat the Dream Team.
[dramatic music continues]
[sound of ball dribbling]
[sneakers squeaking on court]
[dramatic music builds]
[music softens]
[dramatic chord plays]
[music fades]
[intriguing music playing]
[Hill] It's July 7th, 2024.
And I'm in Las Vegas for USA Basketball training camp.
A few years ago,
I was named managing director for the US Men's National Team.
[player] Gold on three. One, two, three.
-[all] Gold. -Next group. Next group.
[player 2] Book! Knock down, Book! Knock down, Book!
[Hill] Now it's my job to recruit, select,
and develop our team for the Olympics.
[player 3] Change! Change!
[overlapping chatter]
Stack, Book! Stack!
[Hill] Thirty-three years ago...
-[whistle blows] -Come on now.
[Hill] ...when I was just 19 years old...
[player yells]
[Hill] ...me and a group of other college All-Americans
were recruited to practice against
the one and only Dream Team.
[announcer] This group may well be
the greatest team ever assembled
in the history of team sports.
[Hill] That year was the first time NBA players
were allowed to play in the Olympics.
[Ahmad Rashad] Let me ask both of y'all this.
With all these stars on the team,
if it comes down to the last shot,
who's gonna take the shot?
-Me. -Me.
-[both chuckle] -[Rashad laughing]
[Hill] And it was our job to get them ready.
I'm not sure why,
but they called us the select team.
I guess we were "selected" to get our asses kicked.
The thing was, we had other ideas.
Before we get started, you guys, you know, without a doubt,
play such a huge role in our preparation.
But at the end of the day, it comes down to just hooping.
You guys have all seen these guys,
you guys have all played against them.
And so, you know, there's no fear there.
And as Steve Kerr said yesterday, like,
we want you to kick their ass.
All right?
-[indistinct chatter] -[Hill] All right.
-Select on three. 1, 2, 3. -[all] Select.
[Beethoven's Eroica Symphony playing]
[players chattering]
[indistinct chatter]
[music ends]
[Hill] As I watched the young select team
scrimmage our Olympic team,
memories of my game against the Dream Team
come flooding back.
Now three decades later,
that game has become infamous.
The stories, the trash talk, the controversy.
I feel like now's the time to tell it all,
tell people what really happened that day
in the summer of '92.
[dramatic string music playing]
[Hill] By the mid-1980s,
the idea of a Dream Team was already in the air.
[announcer] The US has its ninth gold medal.
[Hill] Remember, the United States
was still sending college players
to compete in the Olympics.
[announcer 2] Nice block by Sabonis.
[Hill] But then, 1988 happened.
[announcer 3] And here's the frosting for the USSR.
-They win it, 82-76. -[crowd cheering]
United States goes home with a semifinal loss
to the bigger, more experienced USSR team.
[Hill] That summer, the USA didn't win the gold.
Not even silver.
We got the freakin' bronze.
And before you knew it, the announcement was made.
[news anchor] There was some big NBA news during the week.
FIBA, the International Basketball Federation,
voted Friday to allow professional basketball players
to compete in future Olympic Games
and World Championships.
[Costas] Join us now as we name the Dream Team,
the United States team for Barcelona in '92.
Over the next hour, we'll unveil the ten players
who will represent America in the 1992 Olympics.
[Hill] The team they picked was a who's who of the NBA,
headlined by Magic, Bird, Barkley, and Jordan.
Oh yeah, and they took one college player.
You might remember him.
[announcer] There's the pass to Laettner.
-Puts it up. -[buzzer sounds]
[cheering]
[Hill] The Dream Team needed a strong leader
and found one in head coach Chuck Daly,
the legendary coach of the Bad Boy Detroit Pistons.
And from the start,
the expectations placed on Chuck were massive.
[Costas] Chuck, the United States has lost
in the last five major international competitions:
'88 Olympics, '90 World Championships,
'91 Goodwill Games,
last two Pan Am Games.
It's pretty clear you've got to not only bring back the gold,
but do it in emphatic fashion.
[announcer] Vlade Divac, Zdovc, Drazen Petrovic.
[speaking foreign language]
[Hill] The style of play and rules
of international basketball are different from the NBA,
so Chuck wanted his guys to practice against players
who matched what they'd face in the Olympics.
Like they say, iron sharpens iron,
but to me, it felt like we were sacrificial lambs
being led to slaughter.
[music concludes]
[sea birds calling]
[Hill] The Dream Team was starting training camp
in beautiful La Jolla, California.
So in June of '92,
me and seven other of the best college players in the country
packed our bags and headed out to Cali.
[intense music playing]
[Hill] It was Chris Webber from Michigan.
-[announcer] Webber again! -[announcer 2] Yes!
[Hill] My teammate Bobby Hurley from Duke.
[announcer 3] Steal, Hurley.
[crowd cheers]
[announcer 3] They will break your heart.
[announcer 4] A 26-4 run for the Wildcats.
[Hill] Jamal Mashburn from Kentucky.
[announcer 4] Mashburn with a layup.
This is a withering display of basketball talent.
[Hill] Big Rodney Rogers from Wake Forest.
[announcer 5] ...right underneath.
The big man right there, Rogers pops it from inside.
[crowd cheering]
[Hill] Eric Montross from Carolina.
[announcer 6] Montross pummels and scores,
and he'll shoot one.
[Hill] Allan Houston from Tennessee.
[announcer 7] Houston on the drive,
stops, throws it up, got it!
[crowd cheering]
[Hill] Penny Hardaway from Memphis.
[announcer 8] Anfernee Hardaway going in with the cradle
and the layup over the defender.
There is evidence of the brilliance
of Anfernee Hardaway.
[announcer 9] Duke can take the lead, and Hill does it.
[Hill] And yours truly.
[producer] Okay, Grant, you say you beat the Dream Team,
but did that really happen?
The thing that's interesting is like,
no one's really believed us.
Like, you-- it's like one of those things that...
It's something that happens, and then you tell people,
and people are looking at you like, "Yeah, right." You know?
And over 30 years later, um,
I think it's...
I'm-I'm-I'm more in awe now,
I think, than I was at the time.
[gentle woodwind music playing]
[producer] Okay, Chris, take us back to 1992.
[whistles softly]
I just... Wow.
[chuckles] 1992.
[The Thieving Magpie by Rossini playing]
We individually flew from our different colleges
or wherever we were located
into La Jolla, San Diego.
I just remember getting off the plane.
I saw a sign with my name, and I walked to the car,
and Larry Bird's sitting in there.
And I'm like...
"Hell nah."
[announcer] Right corner, Bird.
Backs in, posted up, Bird.
Takes the jumper and hits it.
In high school, we always used to watch this video of him
playing against Atlanta.
[announcer] Got it again, a three-pointer.
[Webber] My teammates,
we always used to watch it and be like,
"You can never do what these teammates in Atlanta do."
[announcer] They want him to keep scoring.
[Webber] They're giving each other fives with Larry Bird,
looking at spots on the floor. That's Larry Legend.
[announcer] There's Bird.
Bird, 14 seconds, he got fouled.
He hit the shot!
Bird has 60 points.
[Webber] Larry Bird was a bad man.
[announcer] Look at the Boston players mob him.
I walked to the car and I'm like, "Damn,
nice to meet you, brother."
He's like, "Hey, nice to meet you."
You know, and it was just quiet.
I'm starstruck.
[The Thieving Magpie continues]
[car engine humming]
[Webber] And then we get out, and he's like...
"Yeah, you better get some sleep
'cause we gon' bust your ass tomorrow."
And in my mind, I'm conflicted.
I'm like, "Yeah, he's talking-- he's talking shit to me."
And then, you know, I'm like, "Quit being starstruck.
Come on, now." And I was like,
"Man, your back already messed up.
You get some sleep."
And I just tiptoe off. Like, oh.
Call my pops like, "Dad." [chuckles]
"I was just talking junk to Larry Bird, man." [laughs]
"It's going great." [laughs]
-Any problems at the airport? -No.
[Mashburn] We were staying at a Marriott
in La Jolla, San Diego. Big Marriott.
[receptionist] Hi, Mr. Jordan.
[Mashburn] I remember pulling in,
getting out of the van,
and they escorted me to a check-in desk.
[Mashburn] They gave us our keys.
And I remember me and Chris Webber
walking down a hallway,
and this figure, tall...
I'm like, "Chris, that's Larry Bird coming toward us."
And first impression was,
damn, I didn't really realize how tall Larry Bird is.
[playful orchestral music playing]
[Mashburn] And Larry Bird approaches us, and Larry goes,
"Are you guys the college--
part of that college select team?"
And we say, "Yeah, Mr. Bird."
He goes, "Oh.
Get some fucking rest. It's gonna be a long week."
And walked off.
It was almost like a pretty girl insulting you,
but you take it as a compliment.
[chuckles] You know?
Larry was the type that would talk to you going down the hall
as if he just didn't get in the car with you and ride.
You know? That's how they were,
and it was cool 'cause that's how we were.
I mean, those are the moments that made it
that much more special.
[pensive string music playing]
[Hill] Man, it was crazy.
We were 19 and 20-year-olds hanging out
in Southern California,
getting ready to play against our idols.
Shit, we were on cloud nine.
[Houston] I think the cool part was, like,
just trying to really enjoy the moment.
[indistinct chatter]
You knew you were about to do something that was historic.
You gotta understand the basketball fan I was.
My wall was plastered with all of these guys.
This was a chance to be around all my heroes.
[man] How you doing, sir?
-Fine, how are you? -Good.
[Hardaway] When I first got to the hotel,
I was like talking to myself saying, "Act like you belong.
Don't be in shock and don't be a fanboy.
Don't just go crazy." 'Cause I saw Michael,
you know, I saw the Admiral, I saw all these guys...
I'm like, "Wow, man, this is phenomenal
that I'm gonna even be in the same presence
as these-- these legends."
[announcer] Charles looks like he's determined
to take over this game.
[Webber] You have to remember the state of basketball.
At this time, there weren't trades in the league
like there are now,
and so you would never see Magic play with a Celtic.
Are you kidding me?
That's the same as, like, superhero movies now,
how kids take for granted that Batman and Superman
are in the same movie.
[dramatic string music playing]
[Webber] And Jordan...
I don't think I can explain to the world
how big Michael Jordan was.
[announcer] Oh! A spectacular move
by Michael Jordan!
[Webber] Those songs from...
♪ Sometimes I feel he is-- ♪
Like, that is that. The shoes.
And before he was this cultural icon, he was our icon,
wearing the double chains and the rock the cradle,
rocking, dunking the basketball.
Like, seeing him on the court.
[crowd cheering]
There was no Instagram behind the scenes
with a player in the locker room.
We were privy to something at the time
that no one in the world was.
So we're just kind of taking it all in,
like, man, can you believe this? Like, we're here.
I remember going over to the gym
and putting on our USA Basketball gear,
and they gave us swag,
which wasn't really called swag back then,
but, "Oh man, this is cool.
Like, I got this, you know, USA Basketball stuff.
Like, no one has this."
[Hurley] We had one practice, I think, the day before
we scrimmaged the Dream Team.
So, able to get up and down a little bit with our team.
We were kind of familiar with each other
just through the high school ranks
and all the games we might have played
against each other in college.
[announcer] ...a dominant inside player, Chris Webber.
[Webber] I was 19 years old,
in between my freshman and sophomore year.
I had just gone to the NCAA finals,
playing against Hurley and Grant Hill,
and so I was coming off of the highest of highs
and the lowest of lows.
[announcer] The Duke of Destiny has won it.
For the first time in two decades,
college basketball has a repeat champion.
[Webber] And I just wanted more basketball,
because I lost my last college game.
C-Webb is a funny, authentic,
cool off the court...
on the court, man-child.
Some of the greatest hands that I've ever seen.
To have a guy, 6'10", be able to run and jump like him
and rebound, and also be able to catch the ball
-with those soft hands... -[announcer] Webber underneath.
[Mashburn] ...made him invaluable.
[dramatic orchestral music playing]
[players chattering]
[Houston] Grant and I had known each other,
been friends way before, and, um,
so athletic,
the skill and talent and athletic,
like this combination.
And he just kind of could do things.
[announcer 1] Oh! Can you believe he got that high?
[announcer 2] Incredible!
He just like-- Man, God just sprinkled something on him.
Bobby Hurley, I mean, we had played two years together.
He was as good as any point guard,
shooting the ball, dribble penetration, defending.
But, you know, Bobby's from Jersey City,
and so Bobby was fearless,
and as a little guy,
never backed down.
[crowd cheering]
Penny was, like, so good, so gifted,
so, uh, so graceful out there,
just so athletic,
great vision.
[announcer 1] Hardaway scores.
[announcer 2] Great concentration.
He was the total package.
We felt like myself and Bobby could handle any guards.
We felt like Rodney Rogers was an unbelievable weapon,
and Allan Houston could shoot it as good as anyone.
Eric Montross, our defensive big,
wasn't scared to mix it up.
And Jamal Mashburn was as smooth as they came.
Whoever put that team together did a phenomenal job
putting us together because
we could play.
[dramatic music playing]
[sneakers squeaking on court]
[man] In the Olympics, at that time,
remember, we're making a transition
from college to pro,
so everyone felt that the select team should be
a collection of the best college players.
These were guys who were going to be lottery picks
in either the next draft or the draft after that.
[indistinct chatter]
[Krzyzewski] And remember,
if there weren't pro players playing at that time,
that select team would have been our Olympic team.
[whistle blows]
I was disappointed that the pros went.
Taking Michael Jordan and all those guys,
I can see why people want to see them rather than college kids.
But for the guys that played on that college select team,
that was our dream to play in the Olympics.
I was upset, uh, because I wanted a gold medal.
[coach] All right, now the only other one,
let's just say here...
[Hill] So there was this internal conflict, you know,
because on one hand,
there was a real sort of excitement.
"Oh man, you got Magic and Bird and Barkley,"
and, you know, all these guys.
But then, on the flip side, you're thinking, you know,
"Man, like, these guys, you know, took our opportunity."
...your head, where it's gotta be back here or over here.
[Mashburn] We understood the business part of it,
but we were still a little bit...
had a bit of a chip on our shoulders, especially me.
[players yelling, chattering]
[Rogers speaking]
We got to go out here, play as hard as we can.
We ain't coming out here just to say,
"We played against the Dream Team."
[tense music playing]
[Krzyzewski] The guys on the Dream Team
understood the history of our game.
The game was the most important thing,
and now they had a chance to do it on a world stage.
[players chattering]
[Jordan] Anytime you represent your country,
you know, that's a prideful thing.
I think everybody knew history was being made
and that this was probably the only time ever
that you see these type of players
all together at once.
Eleven Hall of Famers. That's unheard of.
[Johnson] You gon' have to sit down before you hurt somebody.
Hear what the captain says? Captain says sit down,
or this boat is gonna sink.
That's right. Have a seat 'cause you're gonna fall,
and then it's gonna be all that's gonna happen.
[Barkley] The first day...
we went to practice...
there was like hundreds of people standing there.
That was the first time that we realized
how enormous this thing was.
[cheering]
[Jordan] You saw nothing but cameras,
documentation of everything that we did
because of the rarity
of something like that ever happening again.
[fan with camera] So I come to see the team every day.
[Hurley] I got a taste of it.
Our bus arrived, we got off,
we were entering the gym, the Dream Team bus arrived,
and there were people going nuts.
[mellow music playing]
[crowd cheering]
[Bird] We knew they'll be talking about this forever,
just the way that people perceived us
as being superheroes.
[crowd cheering]
[Bird] But once we started practicing, it got serious
because we was there on a mission.
[loud cheering]
[dramatic orchestral music playing]
April, May, June...
[Johnson] That was my first opportunity
to play in the Olympics,
represent my country.
International three-point lines...
And to prove that we could play together,
that we would play together,
and that we would dominate.
[Barkley in 1992] When I sit down at dinner last night,
I just looked around the room
and it was the most incredible thing.
I'm sitting here beside John Stockton, we're talking.
You just look around and you see Magic, Michael, Larry,
Karl, Patrick, David, I mean, Scott.
It was like... I said, "Oh my God.
This is frightening how good this team is."
It's unbelievable. It really is, isn't it?
[laughter]
[man] Chuck Daly was the head coach
because he was winning championships
with the Detroit Pistons.
Could other people have coached that team
and won a gold medal? Without a doubt.
But I don't know that anybody would have gotten the buy-in
with the players as Chuck did it.
[Hill] Chuck had a presence about him.
He was stylish, even in his sweats.
He had his shirt up, like-- you know, he just had a style.
His hair was right.
Uh, but it was also kind of a mafia boss.
You could see the guys had respect for him.
[lush mandolin concerto playing]
[Webber] I knew everything about Chuck Daly.
You gotta understand, I'm from Detroit
where the Pistons won back-to-back champions.
These were my guys.
So I knew where Chuck Daly bought his suits.
Next time down,
Mahorn, you take Worthy. You take Woolridge.
[Webber] Talk to any player that played for him,
all they do is just rave about what a great man he was.
And so what I think is that there's no other man
that could have coached the Dream Team
because there's no other man that each player respected
like they did Coach Daly because of what he'd proven,
because of his humility,
because of him holding you accountable,
and because he was a cool dude.
Well, I think Chuck is-- has the attitude
that he won't let us relax.
We don't want to relax. We don't wanna be overconfident.
We are confident, but we don't want to be overconfident.
[Krzyzewski] I never expected to be an assistant.
Chuck even told me and PJ at our first meeting as coaches,
we had notebooks, and he said, "What are you guys doing?"
I said, "No, we're going to take everything."
And he and Lenny would laugh at me and PJ
because we're these young guys
trying to do a whole bunch of stuff,
and they were the old pros, and just,
"Slow down there, hotshot."
[Carlesimo in 1992] What Chuck is trying to do
is obviously we want to be prepared,
but what we really want to do is not clutter things up either.
We have to allow these guys to showcase their talents.
[in 2024] I remember the first meeting when players came in,
and Chuck spoke to them,
and he just said, "Hey, guys, we're supposed to win.
Everybody thinks we're going to win.
That's expected.
It's not going to be considered a great achievement
if we win the gold medal,
but this is an opportunity for you
to represent the United States
and show people how basketball is supposed to be played."
[somber string music playing]
[Krzyzewski] At the end of the day,
there's a lot of pressure on that head coach.
You not only have to win,
you have to win, like,
in-in a grand style.
[reporter speaking]
No, not nervous. You don't know quite what to expect.
[Carlesimo] The expectation is to bring back the gold medal,
and if you do anything other than that,
it's a tremendous failure, if you will.
And if you win, people just shrug their shoulders and say,
"You were supposed to win."
Off the coast of Spain, there are several islands.
There's one, Mallorca, and one, Menorca.
Mallorca is a very swinging place.
Menorca has a lot of caves and a very high suicide rate,
and banishment or exile is a possibility
if you don't come back with the gold.
[Carlesimo] Even though we felt we were gonna win,
whoever is the ultimate guy responsible
is going to feel somewhat nervous.
I mean, that's just the way it is.
[man] I thought that Chuck was excitable.
He was nervous.
I thought he also was a worrywart.
You can prepare and then you're ready,
but he would prepare and then start all over again.
[inaudible dialogue]
Worldwide, people talked about the Dream Team, okay?
He did not want to lose.
[inaudible dialogue]
[Wilkens] When you're the head coach,
everything comes down on you.
[music fades]
[man] All righty.
All right, fellas, I'm ready for you.
I played select team a couple of years ago.
I think it's a mental thing.
It's funny because it's like, I feel like
every USA team plays a select team,
and that first day they hit you in the mouth
because they're like...
They have-- They've got all the confidence.
And they're just like, man, we're going to play hard.
And I think that competition
brings out the best in everybody.
[dramatic choral music playing]
You can't expect Grant to front somebody in this post,
and then it goes over there,
and front somebody over there too...
[Mashburn] That first day, before that initial scrimmage,
they took us to another practice facility.
We didn't realize what we were doing
or how we fit into the equation.
[reporter] Did you envision ever getting a chance
to play against these guys this early in your career?
No, not really, and it's something
that when I look at them on TV, see Magic when I was young
and trying to do his thing on the playground.
It'll be something special to go up against him
and show him what I got.
I found out today I might be picking up
Magic a little bit full-court,
so, you know, things are just happening for me
that really makes me happy.
[choral music continues]
...dribble. Let's just say I've got it, you dribble,
Jamal moves over, still there.
All right, now, Grant takes...
[Hill] Roy Williams as our coach.
He was at Kansas then.
[Williams speaks indistinctly]
[Williams in 2024] I knew all of those guys.
In this group, Anfernee would be one.
Most of those guys I tried to recruit. [laughs]
Didn't get any of them, but...
Cross 'em passing, and take that away temporarily.
[Hill] And George Raveling was an assistant coach.
At that time, he was at USC.
[Raveling] What our team will do
is try to mirror what the Europeans,
Australians, and Canadians, and so forth are going to do
to try to recreate those type of offensive
and defensive situations that might present problems
for the US Olympic Team.
[grunting]
Barkley, Malone,
a lot of those people taught confidence,
and I listen to that, and I'm going in there
with a lot of confidence.
I'm not going to be intimidated, uh, in any way,
no matter how much they dog me.
[whistle blows]
[Williams speaks indistinctly]
[Mashburn] At some point, they took us
where the Dream Team was practicing.
[dramatic music playing]
[Hill] The gym was cleared out.
No reporters, no news crews.
Chuck Daly only allowed one camera in.
And to this day, only one tape of the practice exists.
Now it was go time.
I didn't think I could get more nervous
than when I walked in the gym.
[Hill] I didn't know what the select team meant,
what the practice was going to look like.
I didn't know if we would be there to,
you know, rebound for them.
[chuckles] If we'd be there to maybe run some sets
on a half court.
I don't think I thought we would scrimmage them.
And I remember we go up to the top,
like, this balcony, to look over the practice session...
[dramatic music continues]
[Houston] ...the most competitive
practice session you'll ever see.
[sneakers squeaking on court]
[Hurley] It was just like precision basketball.
They were just so sharp.
They looked like they had been together playing
for like ten years.
My anxiety just was elevated in that moment.
[mellow instrumental music playing]
[producer] So, Christian, do you remember at that point
being excited to play against your Duke teammates,
Grant and Bobby?
I don't think it was like high on my radar at all,
because so much was going on at that time.
I was trying to graduate from college.
I was making appearances on David Letterman
and Arsenio Hall, and I was winning awards,
and getting on the Dream Team myself.
So it's kind of like, I saw the college kids walk in
and I'm like, "Oh, yeah, we're gonna play against them."
I see Bobby's little white face up there,
and I see Grant's high-top fade.
And I see Eric Montross behind him,
and I'm kind of waving to them like,
"Hey, I'm playing with the Dream Team!" You know?
And no one's waving to me,
'cause they don't even care about me, you know?
But they're all looking at their, you know,
people they look up to.
And I'm kind of like, "I should be with you guys."
[chuckles] "But I'm down here."
[up-tempo string music playing]
[Laettner] And the next time down the court,
Barkley drives baseline, and Karl Malone jumps up,
and Charles Barkley just dunked on him so hard.
-[indistinct yelling] -[cameraman chuckles]
And then their faces all changed, like,
"Ooh, now we got to go play against those guys."
[string music continues]
[Webber] Just imagine a bunch of big gladiators
with all these swords and just dead lions all on the ground.
And, you know, they're doing flips and laughing
and all of this, and you're up top,
and you know you're next.
[laughs] You know? It's not... It's not that fun.
I've said it many times, you know,
we were the crash test dummies.
We were the ones to get in the car,
put on the seat belt,
and see how hard we could handle the pressure
of running into the wall of a Michael Jordan and others.
[music ends]
[Mashburn] But with that being said,
when you look at pros,
and you just sit there and say, "Well, I want to be a pro.
How do I kind of see internally how I perform?"
So it's kind of one of those things where,
yeah, you're nervous, excited,
but you also wanted to prove yourself.
[tense string music playing]
[Webber] So walking down the stairs, like,
I would have been embarrassed to be nervous in front of them.
[footsteps echoing]
[Webber] When I think about the Dream Team
playing in the Olympics and what they did with the world,
you had teams hugging them before they played.
Like, that's-- that's wonderful, but I can't do that.
That's not-- That's not who we are.
[music intensifies]
[Mashburn] It was kind of like, uh,
you know, you're going to be in a practice squad,
and you're talking to college All-Americans
and potential pros.
All eight of us on that team...
we're not practice players.
[intense string music continues]
[Hardaway] We were honored, humbled by the opportunity.
We were humbled as far as respecting who they were.
But we also wanted to show these guys that we could play.
And we were dumb enough to know that we could win. [laughs]
[string music continues]
[Mashburn] Once I stepped across those lines...
we equals until you show me something different.
[Webber] I just remember talking to the guys and saying,
"This is our moment. This is our dream.
We're playing against... our heroes."
Like, it was every single person.
It was Hurley against Stockton.
It was everyone that they said, you know...
Grant checking Jordan. It was every...
You know, Penny against Magic.
It was every-- Me against Barkley.
It was everyone's dream matchup.
That's what I mean about us being
the perfect crash test dummies. We wanted the smoke.
That's what the kids say today. We wanted the smoke.
[somber instrumental music playing]
[Carlesimo] This was the first time
the Dream Team was together.
They knew we were gonna be playing against
these very talented college guys
in our first scrimmage.
But, I mean, let's be honest,
there's no way you could put together a college team
that would even think about competing with our group.
I guarantee you there was some debate
before this thing started of like, you know,
is this going to be a waste of time
playing against these guys?
[Krzyzewski] The select team, they had a shot
to show everyone, "Hey, I can do this,"
where I don't think the Dream Team
looked at it as competitively.
[Johnson] We're looking down there at the college players.
And, you know, we're just messing around,
thinking, "Okay, this is the Dream Team.
We gonna blow them guys out."
[Hill] So before we started, we shoot a free throw.
And then they come down and run a set against us.
Things that they walked through just 10, 20 minutes before.
So it might be an up and down and then stop.
[whistle blows]
But as a player, you want to play.
[coach] Go right there. Go.
[whistle blows]
So then when Chuck Daly actually blew the whistle,
it's time to scrimmage, I think everybody,
at least on our side, eyes lit up.
[Houston] Now we get called on the court,
and they're all lathered up.
You know, they're all loose and ready.
And it was just like, all right, here we go.
It's just like the best pickup game
you're ever gonna play in in your life.
[Mashburn] We had finally got up and close
to what you were watching on TV.
And it looks different.
They look bigger.
They look faster.
And they look confident.
But we were definitely excited.
Roy Williams said, you know, "Grant, you got Jordan."
And it was like, man, this is a little different than
who I've been guarding back in Durham.
[Williams] I said, "You, you, you, you, and you, let's start.
And you got Jordan, and you got Scottie, and you got..."
And the guys are looking at me like--
And I said, "Yeah, that's a good sound, isn't it?"
And I said, "Okay, our goal is to help that team
win the gold medal. That's our goal.
But while we're here, let's play our tails off."
[players chattering]
I think... sports
and being an athlete,
it-it conditions you
to always think you can win.
[heroic instrumental music playing]
[producer] So tell me, what happens next?
Well, what happened next was we jumped out on 'em.
They were shocked.
[players exclaiming]
We were dunking. We were screaming.
We were throwing lobs. We were making shots.
All of a sudden, they was like, "Hold on.
These guys came to play."
[heroic music continues]
[Bird] It was a short game. I think it was 20-minute game.
We were playing pretty well, but they were playing great.
I remember Penny more than anybody,
'cause he looked like he was 12 years old,
and he was kicking our butts, so...
I think our athleticism surprised them.
[Bird] We was trying to do too much.
Making some bad passes, some turnovers.
And that was my biggest fear.
[Houston] It took us a minute to figure out,
can I get by this guy?
You saw Bobby Hurley started to see,
"Oh, I can get into this crease, and I can find people."
They can't keep Bobby in front of them.
[Mashburn] Bobby Hurley was a nightmare for those guys,
because he was small and quick.
[Hurley] I was in a great frame of mind
because I'd worked as hard as I ever worked
to get ready to go play against them.
So once you do that, you have a belief in yourself.
[Krzyzewski] Bobby gave the Dream Team an opportunity
to play against that international guard
who had no fear.
[heroic music continues]
[music builds, fades out]
[pensive music playing]
[Hurley] It was like Christmas for me,
because as a point guard,
my options are Allan Houston, Penny Hardaway, Grant Hill,
Chris Webber, Jamal Mashburn.
It was like, wow, these are great options.
[Hill] Grant and Penny get out and transition,
got some blocks, got some steals.
[players chattering indistinctly]
[Hill] Allan Houston hits a couple of threes.
Webber has some incredibly athletic plays on the interior.
Chris Webber was a man, you know? I mean...
I always thought, "Boy,
if that guy's coming to this league,
I gotta get out of here."
[pensive music continues]
Anytime I got it, I wanted to tear the hinges off the rim,
because these are the pillars of the big fellas in the league.
I wanted to break a backboard so bad.
[music ends with a flourish]
[Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 playing]
[Hill] Everybody's contributing. Everybody's doing something.
And we're kind of feeding off each other
and gaining confidence as we go.
And you can tell that they're... not in sync.
[Pippen] Everybody was trying to be very unselfish.
We didn't know how to play with each other.
We didn't want to step on anybody's toes
or hurt any egos.
That college team was great. Although they were young
and, uh, talking some junk.
There was almost a sense of being stunned.
[Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 continues]
[Hill] And their body language...
a little bit of getting upset.
[whistle blows]
-[whistle blows] -[Webber] They were pissed.
[indistinct chatter]
Those type of players don't get to where they've gotten
in basketball without taking enormous pride in winning.
I sensed some frustration
because they were running out of time.
[indistinct yelling]
[Houston] We knew at some point
they were going to figure it out.
But we felt like we had, like, a window to at least try
to cause some confusion.
[dramatic orchestral music playing]
We had these young guys who thought their chance of ever
playing in the Olympics had been taken away from them.
They weren't intimidated.
They were going to make us work.
And for sure, there was a curiosity--
"How is Chuck going to react?"
I think us as assistants right there, then,
clearly it was, "Hey, Chuck, call a timeout."
[dramatic music continues]
We were like, "Hey, man, we're winning against
the best team ever assembled. Let's keep it going."
[dramatic music continues]
[players grunting]
They didn't take us seriously, and then when it came time
for them to really get serious, it was too late.
The horse is already out the barn.
[dramatic music continues]
[Wilkens] Even when you're a pro,
you can't wait till the last minute
and then think, all of a sudden, "I can turn it on."
'Cause no, you'll get surprised.
[orchestral music builds]
At the end, Chuck said, "Okay, that's enough."
[whistle blows]
[orchestral music continues]
All I know is when the clock stopped,
we were up.
[music builds]
[music fades]
[Hurley] We kept it anywhere from like 6 to 12,
I think, through most of that scrimmage.
And then when it ended, uh,
I know-- I think we won by about 8 points.
[Houston] It was almost like a silence, like a dead period.
You could tell people were like, what do we do?
[Erik Satie's Gnossienne No. 3 plays]
[Hill] There was an uneasiness on their part.
You could feel it. You could sense it.
I think there was kind of a shock on everyone's part.
I think everyone that was in the building
was just kind of like...
what-what's going on, or what just happened?
[Carlesimo] You can talk all you want to players.
And that team was
the best basketball team ever put together.
But even that team found out
that if you're not highly motivated,
if you take something for granted,
if you don't prepare as best you can,
that, uh, it can come back and bite you.
You can't control it.
[Webber] Nothing felt as good as that moment.
And I was just looking like... yeah, yeah.
We just reminded them that, you know,
there's a billion-to-one long shot in every game.
But we were that one.
[chuckles]
[dramatic orchestral music playing]
[cameraman] All those people wait for the team to come out.
See 'em waving there--
[Hurley] Once we finished our scrimmage,
there had to be, like, 1,000 people just out there
trying to have a chance to see the new Dream Team
and talk to those guys.
It was overwhelming.
I remember when the scrimmage was over, seeing the score.
I didn't know the media was coming in.
I didn't-- This was all new to us.
But then you look up, and the score is down.
[Carlesimo] Chuck looked around the room
knowing this is gonna be the lead story in USA Today
and The New York Times.
So all that was in Chuck's mind.
[camera shutters clicking]
[Mashburn] There was a lot riding on the Dream Team,
more than I think people really care to share.
So if you had a college select team... beat 'em,
you can imagine what the conversation would've been.
And Chuck said, "Get the score off there.
Cut it off."
I mean, he was not pleased in one little bit.
[Hardaway] He didn't want anybody
to take a picture of that score.
If anybody has that score on a picture, I need it.
[laughs]
I think it was smart to take off the score.
No visible, tangible evidence.
-[people chattering] -The press came in.
I mean, it was just an incredible number of people
there covering it.
[camera shutters clicking]
[Hurley] The media rolled in there.
We were told not to talk about it.
But we weren't gonna talk about it anyway.
[Hill] The media is gravitating to all the guys.
And we're there.
Nobody's coming to us. [chuckles]
Some of these players we just got through playing against
probably should be on this team.
-But they'll get their chance. -[reporters chuckle]
[Mullin] We got to scrimmage against a developmental team,
which is a really good bunch of players...
Nobody really said anything about losing the game.
It's intriguing in that the collegiate kids
are playing very well.
This is a terrific group we're playing against.
And I think we're somewhere between the mentality
of an All-Star Game and trying to come together as a team.
But-but the scoreboard thing really kind of, like, hmm.
Chuck Daly, they didn't want anybody to know
that the Dream Team could be imperfect.
[pensive music playing]
We're sitting there like, man, yeah, that happened.
[cameraman] Here they come.
[Houston] And there was a little chatter.
I do remember a couple of guys like C-Webb,
letting Barkley, Karl Malone, Bird, and them know,
"We got y'all."
[chuckles]
[crowd cheering]
[pensive music continues]
[cheering]
[overlapping chatter]
[laughter]
[Houston laughs]
You have a stretch where
you're just playing with confidence.
And then, when anybody has confidence,
you don't know what could happen.
[pensive music continues]
[Mashburn] We were pretty high on ourselves.
We felt like we were pros at that particular time.
And I remember going back to the hotel,
and I think me and Rodney Rogers
were sitting outside.
Bobby Hurley was there as well.
That day after we won, Barkley yelled something at us.
You know, "You'll be back tomorrow."
You know, there might have been some chatter,
but certainly not from me.
Afterwards, I went to play golf.
[faint birdsong]
[Williams] And it was me and Michael, David Robinson,
Charles Barkley, and John Stockton.
Charles Barkley says, "Hey, Coach,
your boys ran their mouth too much today."
I said, "They were being kids,
but it was a great day for them, Charles.
Think about the thrill that they had."
And he said, "Well, we'll get 'em."
And I said, "I know. I told them,
you know, 'Don't talk too soon.'"
[music fades]
What really hurt was they were talking trash.
I mean, talking trash.
We were so hot.
We said to ourselves,
we don't ever want that to happen again.
[dramatic string music playing]
[producer] Okay, so the next day comes.
Before the game started, did you even sense, like,
this is a little different vibe?
I don't remember that day at all.
-You don't? -No, I'm joking. [laughs]
[dramatic music continues]
[Hill] So when we came back the next day,
we're riding high.
It wasn't like, "Hey, man, they're going to respond,"
or, you know. It was like, man-- we're like, come on.
It's day two. I can't wait for day two.
[Krzyzewski] For the Dream Team,
there wasn't, like, this team meeting
and saying, "You know, we gotta beat the select team."
But they had talked.
They're men.
These are accomplished professionals.
So they said, "Well, we need to take care of business
better than we did."
And that's all Chuck wanted.
[music builds, fades out]
He wanted them to take care of business.
[Daly] White team outside, five on five.
Go about one set, five, transition...
[Houston] It's the Dream Team.
You saw it when we walked in the gym.
They were, you know, going intense.
-[players grunting] -[whistle blows]
I-I just remember, you know, we were like...
meat getting salted and seasoned.
[laughs]
[players chattering]
[Mashburn] I remember Rodney Rogers just joking
and said something to Larry Bird like,
"You haven't hit a jump shot since 1988."
It was kind of a joke like "you're an old man" type deal.
And I distinctively remember... Magic kinda looking.
It's like, he wasn't offended, but it was like...
he's logging it.
And then we was all mixed.
Being in that circle,
and, um, even the jump ball circle felt different.
It's just... mm, this don't feel like day one.
[opening chords of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 plays]
[Mashburn] And when it was time to go,
Magic made it an emphasis
to get the ball to Larry Bird.
And Larry Bird proceeds
to tell Rodney Rogers,
"One dribble, high off glass."
He proceeded to do exactly that.
And Rodney couldn't do anything about it.
[Bird] I knew Magic was gon' pass me the ball.
I had a 6'6" kid guarding me.
That don't work.
[Mashburn] Next play down...
[chuckles] Magic goes back to Larry Bird again.
And I promise you,
probably about eight trips down the court,
I saw Larry Bird do exactly
what he said he was going to do.
Even though Larry's back was hurting,
that boy could still shoot that basketball.
And the net... didn't move.
And he'd sit there and shoot
and talk to you at the same time.
[players chattering]
[Rogers speaking]
[Webber] I saw Larry Bird say to Rodney Rogers...
He went like this,
all of a sudden, Rodney Rogers flies by in slow motion,
and he's like, "Welcome to the parachute club."
Whoosh!
[sneakers squeaking]
[Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 continues playing]
[players yelling indistinctly]
[music fades]
It was a bloodbath in there.
[Symphony No. 5 resumes]
[Hurley] They were just so dominant, in every facet.
Size, throw the ball in the post,
you know, block shots, dunks, threes, everything.
[Webber] They were mad.
[whistle blows]
It was a hurt-your-feelings day.
[players chattering]
[Webber] I've never seen defense in my life like I did that day.
[Johnson] I'm looking at Michael and Scottie,
and they're like,
"We wanna put it on these guys."
I've always said Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen together,
two of the best defenders I've ever seen.
It was a thing of beauty.
[Hurley] When they threw a perimeter
of Michael, Scottie, and Clyde Drexler,
there was so much athleticism on the floor.
I couldn't go by them off the dribble.
I couldn't really do anything.
[Laettner] I can't even tell you how quick the Dream Team
went from defense to offense.
When they decided to play good defense,
and then they got a steal or a turnover, bam, they're gone.
They're scoring within a second down there.
[players chattering]
The day before, Allan Houston went off like 20-something.
And I remember Jordan said something to the effect of,
"You ain't gonna get a shot off today.
You're not going to get it above your shoulders."
Like, literally, you're not gonna get it above here.
That day, Allan Houston did not get it above his shoulders.
[players chattering]
And that's when I realized how good Michael Jordan was.
[Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" choral music playing]
[Mashburn] With all those Hall of Fame players,
if you didn't know anything about basketball,
you can tell who the best player on the court was.
He never liked to lose.
Michael always got that look,
like...
"What the fuck going on?"
And when you see that look,
just... give him the damn ball and get out the way.
[Mashburn] After that, I second-guessed
if I was going to be
a professional basketball player.
[Hill] It was like we had superpowers the first day,
and then, all of a sudden,
there's a big rock of kryptonite in the middle of the court.
Like, it was-- it was like night and day.
["Ode to Joy" continues playing]
[Rogers speaking]
And I was like, "Good God."
[chuckles]
[Wilkens] All of a sudden, Chuck got nervous,
and he didn't want anybody to get hurt.
So he called a stop to it.
["Ode to Joy" continues]
[Wilkens] But Chuck could see the point was made.
Message sent and received.
[laughs]
[music concludes]
[mellow ambient music playing]
[Hill] From that point on,
everything was happy memories.
The Dream Team went to the Olympics...
[crowd cheering]
[announcer] Magic rock!
[Hill] Destroyed every team in their path...
[announcer] The US with a 46-1 run.
[Hill] Won the gold medal...
[announcer] The US has won the gold here in Barcelona.
[Hill] And reclaimed America's place
atop the basketball world.
[music fades]
[Hill] Best part of all,
me and my college teammates go down
as the only team to ever beat the Dream Team.
A perfect ending to a perfect story.
Unfortunately, that's not how our story ends.
[somber music playing]
[Hill] You see, 20 years later...
Well, I figured eventually there'd be a movie
made about the Dream Team.
[Hill] ...they released a documentary
on the Dream Team.
That's when everything changed.
[Krzyzewski in 2012] He threw the game.
You know, Chuck threw the game.
If you look how much Jordan played
and how he subbed guys in,
he set it up for us to lose.
Not picking up, not making any adjustments.
He knew what he was doing.
And then from then on, he had a way of just saying,
"You know, you could lose."
[Hurley in 2012] It was legit.
It felt tremendous,
you know, what we were doing that day.
You know, they couldn't stop it. [chuckles]
You know, there are kids who believe in Santa Claus, too,
and... and the Easter Bunny.
And now that they've grown up, I hate to burst their bubble,
but, uh, it was a game thrown.
[Hill] At that moment, all I could say was...
"Damn, Coach."
[producer] Yeah, that's good. Just tilt up just a hair.
-[indistinct chatter] -[chuckles]
You know, what's interesting is that Grant and Bobby Hurley
and that team that beat the Dream Team in '92,
it's such a well-known story.
[producer] Yeah. Coach K claims that Chuck Daly threw the game.
-[laughs] -Uh, do you believe that?
No, I don't believe it.
[laughter]
[Erik Satie's Gnossienne No. 3 plays]
[Krzyzewski] The guys on the select team say,
"We beat 'em in the scrimmage."
God bless 'em, they can say that for
the rest of their lives, and that's a cool thing.
I think the person who won at that time was Chuck Daly.
The very first thing about Chuck Daly was
he was the perfect guy to coach that team
or any US team.
Chuck was not only a brilliant tactician,
he understood people.
[Daly] First part was good.
-Karl. -[Malone] Yes, sir.
[Krzyzewski] And he understood stars.
He knew that a number of things would have to go wrong
for us to lose during the Olympics.
But still, there was pressure on him.
-All right, go ahead. -[clapping]
[Krzyzewski] Because anything can happen.
There are periods of time
where the best talent doesn't beat lesser talent.
And what I think happened that day with the select team
is that he looked at that as an opportunity.
It was his opportunity
to introduce defeat,
like how you might feel if you lost.
"That's my opportunity. It might never happen again.
Michael, sit down.
You-- You're okay."
I knew then what he was doing.
And I thought it was brilliant, you know,
to be quite frank with you.
[Laettner] Chuck might have. He might have.
To let the 11 pros on the Dream Team feel that,
"Hey, if we don't take it seriously,
and if we don't turn ourselves on
and play the right way,
anyone can beat us."
[dramatic string music playing]
[Carlesimo] Mike K and I have argued about this for years
because Mike still believes, I-I think,
that Chuck orchestrated the whole thing.
But I think that that occurred as the scrimmage developed.
At some point, he said,
"All right, whatever happens happens.
I'm not gonna stop it."
[players chattering]
He just let it kinda pick up
and-and let the game go with natural flow.
There was no time-out saying,
"What the hell are you guys doing?
You know, turn it on,
or these college kids are gonna beat ya."
Here's my Dream Team book that I have, you know,
sitting in my house all the time.
And maybe there's some pictures of stuff we just talked about.
That's a picture from the scrimmage
with the college kids that we're talking about.
And if you look closely,
Magic and Michael are sitting over there.
[chuckles] They're not playing.
And I don't even know if they're even sweaty
because maybe they haven't played at all.
[pensive string music playing]
[Hill] So, you know, I know...
Coach K said that Chuck threw the game,
which I still...
I still have a hard time with that.
I hear all the conspiracy theories,
and I'm telling you, all of that is convenient.
The coach made the team lose on purpose
so we could win a scrimmage?
Bullshit.
[scoffs] Um, just call it what it is.
[Webber] You can't use coaches as an excuse to lose.
This is hoopin'.
[Houston] This is the Dream Team.
They don't need any extra psychology or motivation.
[Hill] Okay, maybe you took Michael out of the game
for a period of time.
But you still had some pretty darn good players out there.
So we're better than the rest of 'em?
[Hardaway] You mean to tell me that Magic Johnson,
John Stockton, Clyde Drexler,
David Robinson, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley
aren't enough for some college kids?
Think about that.
[music intensifies]
[Hill] See, here's the thing.
Irrespective of what the coach wanted,
if I'm on that team, if I'm a competitor,
and I'm getting beat, like...
Like, no, like, I'm gonna, like...
You know, you're gonna get mad, you're gonna...
Like, there's pride, you know? [chuckles]
And-and you know what?
Guys on the Dream Team have pride.
And Michael Jordan is the greatest.
I'm not tripping on that.
But I think Michael Jordan would tell you
that if he didn't play, that they should beat us.
Let's be honest. They didn't rest the complete starting five.
They rested Michael Jordan.
But he still played.
It wasn't like he played one minute
and sat out the rest of it.
No, he played.
[Hurley] I didn't keep track of how many minutes
Jordan was out there,
but I was always looking over my shoulder.
I think they played really hard. They wanted to beat us.
We just-- We were quicker on the ball,
maybe a fraction of a step quicker that day,
and just, uh, playing freely.
[Hill] That's where I have issues with this idea
of throwing the game.
The only people who can throw a game
are the people in the game.
[whistle blows]
[dramatic music playing]
[Mashburn] They talkin' about Chuck Daly's
method to his madness.
We never got the memo.
I think there was a signature moment in the game
that we were on a run,
and Chuck Daly called a time-out.
I just remember kinda glancing over at Coach K.
He was kind of looking surprised.
Yeah, I don't remember that.
And to be quite frank, I don't remember it
because I didn't think it was that important.
[Carlesimo] Mike's got two problems.
First of all, his memory is a little faulty.
And secondly, he never lets the truth
get in the way of a good story. [laughs]
But I will say Chuck did not go out of his way to stop it.
It wasn't like he was taking time-outs
and breaking clipboards and screaming at them.
I think Chuck said, "You know what,
this might not be the worst thing."
[Williams] Bullshit.
I'm 73 years old. I don't buy it now.
If I live to 99, I won't buy it then.
We did beat the Dream Team.
[dramatic music continues]
[music fades]
I played for coaches that say talent gets you beat
if talent doesn't work hard.
And the motivation and the energy and the effort
is something you can't coach.
For us college players,
our opportunity to be Olympians
was kind of taken away.
So that was maybe our one day
to, uh, to have our moment.
[Webber] That wasn't a practice to us.
It was the biggest moments of our life.
We played it as if it was a championship game.
We were so motivated because everyone in life knows
you can slay the giant on that one day.
[mellow ambient music playing]
[Houston] Look, if I'm a coach,
and I got this young kid saying,
"I beat you, I beat you,"
I'm not gonna be like, "Yeah, you beat me."
I'm going to have something to say about it, right?
And I think that's all it is.
Coach, he's gon' have something to say about it.
He's not gonna be like, "Yeah, okay."
You know, that's-- it's a competitive spirit.
Coach K is a phenomenal human being.
He's an unbelievable coach.
That's the way that he motivated his teams.
If a loss came about, we deserved it.
You didn't play Duke basketball.
I think he said that because that's kind of how
he handles his... his business at Duke.
[producer] Coach, if Chuck Daly was alive today,
what do you think he'd say?
He might say we tried our best.
And-- Because it was only important that he knew.
But you know what?
No one will ever know for sure.
[Hill] Not long ago, Coach K called
and invited me to be a guest on his podcast.
I knew this was it.
My chance to finally challenge him
on his "Chuck Daly threw the game" story.
[podcast host] Grant Hill was a four-year player at Duke,
won back-to-back national titles.
He's the managing director for USA Basketball.
[Krzyzewski] Managing director for USA Basketball.
So what about Paris and the Olympics?
The expectations, obviously, for anything we do,
is gold medal, as it should be.
You were a part of the '92 Dream Team.
-Yes. -Were on that coaching staff.
What that did for the game was incredible.
Explosion.
-[Hill] It exploded. -Yeah.
Well, you know, Coach, I always appreciated playing for you.
And I think one of the things you taught me
was to speak my mind.
I saw the Dream Team documentary.
And I know you've said that the game was thrown
and all that, but...
we beat the Dream Team that day.
You're right up to a point.
First of all, you guys were the first select team.
The Dream Team, they liked you
and they thought you were helping 'em,
but they knew they could beat you at any time.
And so they didn't come in loaded for bear, so to speak.
Right.
Once it started, and you guys were playing lights out,
Chuck Daly, as a brilliant coach,
he let it happen.
Did you ever hear him raise his voice?
Or you guys weren't paying attention to that.
But the reason we didn't hear Chuck yelling and screaming,
because we were too busy dunking
and scoring and high-fiving each other.
You were in a segmented part of competition.
And in those segments,
a brilliant coach would take advantage of what he saw,
not just before and after the segment,
but during the segment.
Your segment was terrific
because he couldn't teach them what it would mean to lose.
And so you were...
-You were used... -[laughs]
-...for a gold medal. Come on. -I beg to differ.
I remember Allan Houston, like, getting hot.
I remember Bobby just getting into the paint at will.
I remember Chris Webber dunking all over the bigs.
You have Magic and Bird and Jordan and Barkley.
These are the greatest.
They're like the greatest players
and the greatest competitors.
Forget about what the coaches are saying,
Chuck, they're like, "Hey, we're not letting this happen."
-Maybe he couldn't stop it. -Right.
But he didn't attempt to stop it.
Now, do you remember what happened the next day?
[clicks tongue] I-I don't. I don't.
You know, I-I remember the arrival.
I remember the first day.
They were on, uh, a cruise ship before that scrimmage.
Now they got on a battleship.
So you think us beating them or shocking them, like, it played--
-it helped them... -Huge.
...not just the next day, but for the rest of the journey?
Yes. That's what I'm saying.
And, you know, we're all part of history.
Yeah.
And that history then changed
how the US and the world looked at our game.
So be thankful that you won a scrimmage.
I'm so happy that you were able to keep
these, uh, childish dreams.
-That's funny. -Makes me feel good.
The jury would already have decided this by now.
[Overture to The Barber of Seville plays]
[chuckles]
[Jordan] You know, and Chuck...
people tend to forget that he played, you know,
some very competitive mind games.
You know, and me coming from Phil Jackson,
I kind of understood exactly what he was doing.
I think it was very gratifying to Chuck
for us to get our butts beat like that
because now we had to listen to him.
But those kids kicked our butts up and down.
[players shouting]
[Barkley] We were on spring break, basically,
and then they kicked our butt.
After that first day, we realized, like,
"Guys, if we lose, it's gonna be like
the biggest upset in sports history."
[Johnson] Chuck Daly was a master.
His genius was the fact that he brought
these young college guys in who he knew was gonna be up
and sky-high to play against us,
and they were gonna play hard.
And he probably knew we were just
going through the motions a little bit.
Well, what happened was
them guys came at us and blew us out
and really was taking it to us.
I mean, uh, on all phases of the game.
We were just, uh... were not into it,
and we paid for it.
Those college guys woke us up
and made us play the way we're used to playing.
So I want to thank them
for that butt whooping that they put on us.
[Jordan] It goes to say
that you never underestimate your opponent,
and I think you had 11 Hall of Famers there
who underestimated these college kids,
and you never can underestimate your opponent.
I don't care who they are.
[sneakers squeaking on court]
-[whistle blows] -[Daly] Let's just scrimmage.
[Hill] Looking back,
there's one thing I know for sure.
My teammates and I completed our mission.
We gave the Dream Team the wake-up call they needed,
and they went on to wake up the world.
[announcer] Barkley off a beautiful feed from Mullin.
[camera shutter clicks]
[music fades]
[Hill] Meanwhile, our journey was just beginning.
Good evening, and welcome to the 1993 NBA Draft.
With the first pick, the Orlando Magic select
Chris Webber from the University of Michigan.
[cheering]
[Hill] As the years passed, my teammates and I
all got drafted in the first round.
-[man 1] Anfernee Hardaway... -[man 2] Jamal Mashburn...
[man 3] Bobby Hurley from Duke University...
[announcer 1] Hurley gets by Hornacek.
All the way through, drops to Alaa.
Beautifully-timed drop pass from Bobby Hurley.
[announcer 2] Oh, brother!
[arena announcer] Chris Webber!
[pensive music playing]
[announcer 3] Allan Houston, Houston ducks under...
Got it! With eight tenths left!
[announcer 4] Sweet redemption for Allan Houston.
[Hill] Along the way, there were awards...
[arena announcer] Rodney Rodgers!
[Hill] All-Star Games...
[announcer 5] Finding Mashburn open for three.
Jamal Mashburn has it stuck on automatic!
[Hill] And NBA Finals.
[announcer 6] Penny Hardaway. What a star he is going to be.
[announcer 7] He has it all.
[Hill] A few of us even got a chance
to play in the Olympics...
[arena announcer] Grant Hill!
[Hill] ...and win that gold medal.
[somber string music playing]
[announcer] Bobby Hurley out of action for Sacramento.
[Hill] And whether it was injuries
or just Father Time that brought our careers to an end,
that week with the Dream Team will go down
as one of the greatest experiences of our lives.
[arena announcer] Welcome to Madison Square Garden,
the world's most famous arena.
[Houston] The Dream Team is a team
that no one should ever forget about.
I know there was a part of us, and we talked about like,
"Yo, I wonder if this is gonna be us one day."
And I think as a college player,
that was really important to know
that there was a process to their greatness.
[somber music continues]
[indistinct yelling]
[Hurley] I might have peaked that week
against the Dream Team
as far as maybe being the best
that I ever was at basketball.
Like, I have my pictures with Michael Jordan
and Magic Johnson up in my office.
Magic and I connected during that week
on a point guard level,
just how...
So when recruits come through,
it definitely has helped me here at Arizona State.
[producer] These are kids that weren't even born.
Do they even know what happened?
Well, yeah, they do because when they get here,
they're gonna have to listen to my stories about it, so...
[somber music continues]
[producer] So did that win against the Dream Team
help ease your pain from the Olympics getting taken away?
Nah.
I think what that win did for me was that
I was capable of playing at the NBA level.
[announcer] Feeds Mashburn, got bumped, the 360!
[announcer speaks indistinctly]
[Mashburn] At the end of the day,
we were part of the adversity that,
"Hey, if you guys aren't on your game,
somebody can take you out."
I'm glad to be a part of it, but nobody sent me a gold medal
for-for being the adversity. [chuckles]
[somber music continues]
[players yelling indistinctly]
Shrink the floor!
[Hardaway] That week being with the Dream Team
did so much for me mentally.
It made me want to get out of an adverse situation
that I was in where I lived,
because it gave me the start of understanding
what it was like.
Everybody on the baseline.
Tuck your jerseys in.
It made me want to live the way that they lived.
Like, "Man, this is what life is all about.
I can do this."
[light, pensive music playing]
[producer] So, Rodney, is this a fond memory for you?
Oh, yeah.
One you'll never forget.
It's gonna always stick in my head.
I got a picture of us,
the guys that they picked from college,
and, uh, a picture of us with the Dream Team.
[Webber] Every time I see Rodney Rogers,
I tell him, "Welcome to the parachute club,"
and he loves it and he hates it
because, I mean, every, every time.
It's a time and a context that I find myself,
you know, constantly romanticizing,
not that moment of basketball and playing against them, but
how pure those moments were for all of us eight guys.
[pensive music continues]
[Hill] I've done a lot of things in my career,
but there's nothing like doing this.
[crowd cheering]
[Hill] There is a standard
that's associated with USA Basketball.
[announcer] Back to Curry. Over the double-team.
Oh!
[Hill] As I watch the USA capture another gold medal,
I carry with me the pride of knowing
over 30 years ago, me and my teammates,
me and my friends,
played a role in helping create
the greatest basketball team the world has ever seen.
[crowd roaring]
[Hill] Oh yeah. And one more thing...
We beat the Dream Team.
And they try to say we didn't beat 'em.
We beat the Dream Team.
We won, and we beat 'em,
and it felt good. [chuckles]
And you can't take that away. You can't.
I-I was there. I... I know.
[dramatic orchestral music playing]