San Antonio Spurs: The greatest Olympic performances in team history

1. Manu Ginobili vs. the United States

Final Score: Argentina, 89; the United States, 81

Box Score: 29 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 9-of-13 FG, 4-of-6 3P, 7-of-8 FT

Putting any other Spurs’ Olympic performance at the No. 1 spot feels almost uncivilized.

Manu Ginobili’s eight-game run during the 2004 Olympics featured a handful of otherwise unforgettable moments; See his awkward, fallaway game-winner in the inaugural game of the tournament against Serbia or his spirited effort in defeat against Italy a week later.

The reason we’re so able to somewhat forget about those storybook moments is because of what Ginobili was able to do against Team USA in the semifinal round.

In the arena that night in Athens, Ginobili stood across the floor, eye-to-eye with Most Valuable Player winners of the past, present and future.

Be it Allen Iverson and Tim Duncan, the team’s co-captains, or budding superstars like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony, there’s a case to be made that Ginobili may not have been a top-10 player on the floor on most nights.

But all that matters is Aug. 27, 2004, and on that night, he was the best player to touch the hardwood.

All told, the four-time NBA champion finished with 29 points, three rebounds, and three assists. On the other end, he held his own as the anchor of a 3-2 zone defense that kept the United States’ top rim attackers at bay.

The seismic shift that Ginobili’s performance that night caused also makes it worthy of the top spot. Few games have ever forced an entire country to refocus its efforts for future Olympics.

As the United States prepared to go home without a gold medal for the first time since 1988, they made it clear that in the future they would be sure to field a proper team, one that had some semblance of chemistry — the 2004 team had only 15 practices and a half-dozen scrimmages together.

For Ginobili to say he was the leader of one of only three teams in basketball history to have beaten a United States team — the U.S. was 109-3 in 112 games after this loss — in some ways speaks more volumes than even his Spurs career.

As it’s been said, perhaps it’s only fitting that Ginobili decided to write his retirement post on Instagram in his home language. Few wins in all of sports can compare to the underdog story that was the 2004 Argentina men’s team.