For Russian Coach, Game Against US Comes Full Circle

Filed under: USA Basketball, FIBA World Championship

ISTANBUL -- On Sept. 9, 1972, David Blatt was a 13-year-old kid living in Framingham, Mass., who bled red, white and blue.



On that day, the U.S. Olympic basketball team suffered a shocking and controversial 51-50 loss to the Soviet Union in the final of the 1972 Olympics in Munich, to fail to win the gold medal for the first time. It's something Blatt never will forget.



"I was one of those kids crying when the Americans lost the game in the Olympics, when (Alexander) Belov made the shot at the end,'' Blatt said of the ending in Munich in which the Soviets scored on a third inbound attempt with three seconds left on a length-of-the-court pass to Belov. The American players believe to this day they were cheated and have refused to accept their silver medals.



Flash forward exactly 38 years, and on Sept. 9, 2010 -- which is Thursday -- and the American-born Blatt, who now lives in Israel, will coach the Russians against Team USA in a World Championship quarterfinal at the Sinan Erdem Dome.

 

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Full story at http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/09/06/for-russian-coach-game-against-u-s-comes-full-circle/