Chris Paul (L) of the U.S. 2012 Olympic men's basketball team defends against Elpidio Fortuna of the Dominican Republic during an exhibition game at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada July 12, 2012. (Photo : REUTERS/Steve Marcus)
After Kobe Bryant last week told reporters that the 2012 U.S. men's national basketball team would beat the 1992 Dream Team in a game, Scottie Pippen, Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan lost no time in chiming in and responding to the current Lakers star.
"I imagine he's trying to say it to legitimize his own Dream Team. But to me it's not even a question what team is better," Jordan told the Associated Press.
Like Us on Facebook
For Scottie Pippen, the 1992 team was so good that he said it could probably beat the 2012 'Dream Team' "by 25 points."
Sir Charles on the other hand also believed the comparison to be funny, especially after Kobe mentioned that some players were old at the time.
"I just started laughing. How old is Kobe Bryant? He's 34? And he's calling us old? At the time, we were only like 28, 29. Michael Jordan and me were the same age. We were both 29," Barkley said.
For one thing, Michael Jordan's 1992 'Dream Team' did win gold in Barcelona that year. For another, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James's 'Redeem Team' in 2008 hit gold in Beijing as well.
However, in light of Kobe Bryant having said what he said last week (perhaps hinting to being the best U.S. men's team ever), he and the rest of the team will have to prove themselves once again at this year's London Olympics.
Not to mention that if they bring back the gold, Kobe's point may have earned value to be brought back to the table for more debate, but if they don't he'll probably wish he hadn't said that in the first place..
The USA men's basketball team in an exhibition game obtained its victory against the Dominic Republic Thursday night. Team USA crushed the Caribbean country 113-59.
Kevin Durant was the highest scorer with 24 pts in 22 minutes while Kobe had 4 in 14 minutes and James had 7 in 15 minutes.
Team USA vs. Brazil Exhibition Game TV Schedule
Team USA will be facing Brazil tonight in the Verizon Center in D.C, with the initial tip-off taking place at 8 p.m. ET and will be transmitted on ESPN2.
