Could this year’s USA Olympic men’s basketball team beat the 1992 Dream Team? Of course we’ll never get final word on that impossible but question but for what it’s worth a team of ESPN analysts did run 1,000 computer simulations to test the question, giving the 1992 team the victory 53.1 percent of the time by an average of one point. The thing is though that they don’t have to play the 1992 Dream Team, so we now arrive at the much simpler question: Can Team USA beat the current crop of international players? Last night’s exhibition match, the first time the team has played for a full game together so far, offered up a resounding “yes”.
Team USA beat the Dominican Republic with an impressive 113-59, all the while doing so in a killer crop of patriotic sneakers. Kevin Durant was the clear cut best performer, grabbing 24 points and 10 rebounds in that pending red, white, and blue version of the Nike Zoom KD IV. Kobe Bryant was also spotted in his USA flavored release of the Nike Zoom Kobe VII. The third piece of Nike Basketball’s puzzle was of course laced up in something beyond his own line for the first time in quite a while, with LeBron being the on-court spokesperson of sorts for the all new Nike Lunar Hyperdunk+. Beyond that Team USA also had Chris Paul in the Jordan CP3.V, Carmelo Anthony in an unseen Jordan Melo M8, and a host of others in various Hyperdunk and Hyperfuse iterations. Of course we’d be remiss to not touch on the footwear of the Dominican Republic team, who sported some similar red, white, and blue colorways of models like the Nike Zoom Hyperfuse 2011 and the Nike Lunar Hyperdunk+. Stay with us after the jump for an extensive gallery featuring the likes of these modern day greats putting on for the USA for the first time this Summer and keep it here for more sneaker recaps from the Olympic stage. Photos: Yahoo!
