1972 Olympic Basketball Gold Medal Game - U.S. Refuses to Accept Defeat, Silver Medals

[falcolombardi]

It was a complete and total screw job. Good for the players for not accepting those medals

It was clearly a screw-up from the refs, clearly, but it still seems childish to not show up for the medal ceremony. It's not like this is the first time in sports history that the refs made a mistake. If every team that felt wronged by the refs didn't show up for the medal ceremony we'd be looking at a lot of empty stages.

At the end of the day, the US made a tactical error on that last inbound play and ended up losing the game - even with the refs' screw-up they still had the lead with three seconds to go, they have themselves to blame for defending that last play poorly.

I understand the geopolitical situation at the time adds more context to this, but it seems childish and salty to not show up IMO.

They had reason to believe at that point the refs would just make somethingh up

[Mr Puddles]

probably the biggest sporting result travesty in Olympic history. and that's saying something considering how many of those exist in Olympic history.


Heard Tom McMillan talking about it on NBA radio this week. The amount of grievous errors the refs and scoring table made in those final seconds is astronomical and can only be attributed to intentional cheating.

Just going by the video:

1. Time-out gets called but the scorer's table didn't stop the clock right away. The clock gets put back to 3 seconds.

• This seems to be the right call IMO. As the video states, the Soviets couldn't call a timeout during the free throws, and logic dictates that the coach was ready to call a timeout the first chance he got. It seems to me that it was the right call to put the clock back to 3 seconds - this happens all the time in the NBA.

2. Ref gives the ball for an inbound play, but the clock hasn't be reset yet.

• This is clearly a monumental screw-up on the game-deciding play, but again, this is something that we see in many basketball games. I've watched so many games where the refs pause the game and redo the inbound because of a clock/ shot clock error that it's almost expected to happen at least every few games. Granted it's usually mid-game but it's not like this was a freak occurrence or anything. Obviously, the refs couldn't continue the play with the wrong clock, so redoing the play is the right call.

3. Soviets throw a lob pass which the US defends incredibly poorly.

• The US really only have themselves to blame for that last play. I've seen some bad defense in my days, having followed the suns through their decade-long playoff drought, but allowing a cross-court pass resulting in a wide-open bunny under the basket is some of the worst defence imaginable. Seriously, what is McMillan doing on that last play? Making him defend the inbound passer on a cross-court pass is already dumb enough as it is, but he's not even doing that, he just seems to be stuck in no man's land. Give credit where credit is due though, that was Jason Kidd level accuracy on that inbound pass.

Overall, yes the refs screwed up, but really only on the second inbound play. Definitely shameful, but nothing tantamount to a coordinated cheating effort - especially considering that the games were held in West Germany.

[BallerTalk]

burleson and mcmillen, two gloriously overrated centers, and easy ed yet another in a long long line of overrated tark players. tark and mcguire made a career out of dispensing busts to the nba.

a team led by a legendary COLLEGE coach who got caught stupefied in a moment in history and did not protect the long pass.

from where i was sitting we deserved the loss. it was more of a smh moment. and iba was a dumb@**

but it served a greater good, ie the game was expending. it was the nascent event in basketball achieving global success. similar to houston's lucky win showing the country that college basketball did indeed exist outside of UCLA

Lucky?
E and crew were undefeated and straight up bust that ass in the Dome.
Take that L, appreciate Guy's genius, and move on.

[celticfan42487]

What a bunch of whiny children

[Lalouie]

burleson and mcmillen, two gloriously overrated centers, and easy ed yet another in a long long line of overrated tark players. tark and mcguire made a career out of dispensing busts to the nba.

a team led by a legendary COLLEGE coach who got caught stupefied in a moment in history and did not protect the long pass.

from where i was sitting we deserved the loss. it was more of a smh moment. and iba was a dumb@**

but it served a greater good, ie the game was expending. it was the nascent event in basketball achieving global success. similar to houston's lucky win showing the country that college basketball did indeed exist outside of UCLA

Lucky?
E and crew were undefeated and straight up bust that ass in the Dome.
Take that L, appreciate Guy's genius, and move on.

alcindor sustained an eye injury against stanford the game before.
and when ucla faced hou in the semis it was 101-69. and all the cougars did was whine that the semis didn't mean as much as the dome win ......WEEENIES !!!!!!!!! lol a sad excuse by a bunch of losers doing what losers do

maybe you just don't remember, or erased it from your brain, or wasn't born yet

nonetheless, it made the "revenge game" ohhh soooooo sweeeeeeeeeeet!

[BallerTalk]

burleson and mcmillen, two gloriously overrated centers, and easy ed yet another in a long long line of overrated tark players. tark and mcguire made a career out of dispensing busts to the nba.

a team led by a legendary COLLEGE coach who got caught stupefied in a moment in history and did not protect the long pass.

from where i was sitting we deserved the loss. it was more of a smh moment. and iba was a dumb@**

but it served a greater good, ie the game was expending. it was the nascent event in basketball achieving global success. similar to houston's lucky win showing the country that college basketball did indeed exist outside of UCLA

Lucky?
E and crew were undefeated and straight up bust that ass in the Dome.
Take that L, appreciate Guy's genius, and move on.

alcindor sustained an eye injury against stanford the game before.
and when ucla faced hou in the semis it was 101-69. and all the cougars did was whine that the semis didn't mean as much as the dome win ......WEEENIES !!!!!!!!! lol a sad excuse by a bunch of losers

maybe you just don't remember, or erased it from your brain, or wasn't born yet

nonetheless, it made the "revenge game" ohhh soooooo sweeeeeeeeeeet!

Spoiler:

Yadda, yadda, yadda. 50 years of the same lame excuse from a team that thought they couldn't lose then got bopped on national TV.
Once Kareem laced 'em up for the game all excuses went out the window.

By the way, they called the Dome game the "Game Of The Century" for a reason.
What did they call the rematch? Exactly.

Like I said, just accept that legendary loss (on literally the biggest stage in college basketball) and move on.
Sorry if that epic L bruised your Blue & Gold ego but you can't rewrite history.

[yannisk]

There was never a game without a few bad refereeing decisions. For me it is infuriating when the referees seem to whistle differently the two teams for extended periods of time. Somebody mentioned before the Turkey-Serbia game and I agree, in that game the referees where pushing Turkey practically the whole match.

I too find the behavior of the USA team childish. Players make mistakes, referees make mistakes, I am sure all the players have been on the favored side of refereeing mistakes too.

[shakes0]

probably the biggest sporting result travesty in Olympic history. and that's saying something considering how many of those exist in Olympic history.


Heard Tom McMillan talking about it on NBA radio this week. The amount of grievous errors the refs and scoring table made in those final seconds is astronomical and can only be attributed to intentional cheating.

Just going by the video:

1. Time-out gets called but the scorer's table didn't stop the clock right away. The clock gets put back to 3 seconds.

• This seems to be the right call IMO. As the video states, the Soviets couldn't call a timeout during the free throws, and logic dictates that the coach was ready to call a timeout the first chance he got. It seems to me that it was the right call to put the clock back to 3 seconds - this happens all the time in the NBA.

2. Ref gives the ball for an inbound play, but the clock hasn't be reset yet.

• This is clearly a monumental screw-up on the game-deciding play, but again, this is something that we see in many basketball games. I've watched so many games where the refs pause the game and redo the inbound because of a clock/ shot clock error that it's almost expected to happen at least every few games. Granted it's usually mid-game but it's not like this was a freak occurrence or anything. Obviously, the refs couldn't continue the play with the wrong clock, so redoing the play is the right call.

3. Soviets throw a lob pass which the US defends incredibly poorly.

• The US really only have themselves to blame for that last play. I've seen some bad defense in my days, having followed the suns through their decade-long playoff drought, but allowing a cross-court pass resulting in a wide-open bunny under the basket is some of the worst defence imaginable. Seriously, what is McMillan doing on that last play? Making him defend the inbound passer on a cross-court pass is already dumb enough as it is, but he's not even doing that, he just seems to be stuck in no man's land. Give credit where credit is due though, that was Jason Kidd level accuracy on that inbound pass.

Overall, yes the refs screwed up, but really only on the second inbound play. Definitely shameful, but nothing tantamount to a coordinated cheating effort - especially considering that the games were held in West Germany.

you missed the illegal substitution AND the ref not letting McMillan guard the inbound passer,

[KrAzY3]

probably the biggest sporting result travesty in Olympic history. and that's saying something considering how many of those exist in Olympic history.


Heard Tom McMillan talking about it on NBA radio this week. The amount of grievous errors the refs and scoring table made in those final seconds is astronomical and can only be attributed to intentional cheating.

People have to understand the history Russia has of this sort of thing as well. So it's not coincidence or something.

[Scuall]

The U.S. mistake was not playing Udonis Haslem enough in this game, he would have made a big difference.

[The Rebel]

It was a complete and total screw job. Good for the players for not accepting those medals

It was clearly a screw-up from the refs, clearly, but it still seems childish to not show up for the medal ceremony. It's not like this is the first time in sports history that the refs made a mistake. If every team that felt wronged by the refs didn't show up for the medal ceremony we'd be looking at a lot of empty stages.

At the end of the day, the US made a tactical error on that last inbound play and ended up losing the game - even with the refs' screw-up they still had the lead with three seconds to go, they have themselves to blame for defending that last play poorly.

I understand the geopolitical situation at the time adds more context to this, but it seems childish and salty to not show up IMO.

It was no mistake, the refs were from east Germany and Romania which were both close Soviet allies.

I could be convinced that it was simple mistakes if not for allowing illegal substitutions and forcing the US player away from guarding the inbound play.

[SNPA]

probably the biggest sporting result travesty in Olympic history. and that's saying something considering how many of those exist in Olympic history.


Heard Tom McMillan talking about it on NBA radio this week. The amount of grievous errors the refs and scoring table made in those final seconds is astronomical and can only be attributed to intentional cheating.

Just going by the video:

1. Time-out gets called but the scorer's table didn't stop the clock right away. The clock gets put back to 3 seconds.

• This seems to be the right call IMO. As the video states, the Soviets couldn't call a timeout during the free throws, and logic dictates that the coach was ready to call a timeout the first chance he got. It seems to me that it was the right call to put the clock back to 3 seconds - this happens all the time in the NBA.

2. Ref gives the ball for an inbound play, but the clock hasn't be reset yet.

• This is clearly a monumental screw-up on the game-deciding play, but again, this is something that we see in many basketball games. I've watched so many games where the refs pause the game and redo the inbound because of a clock/ shot clock error that it's almost expected to happen at least every few games. Granted it's usually mid-game but it's not like this was a freak occurrence or anything. Obviously, the refs couldn't continue the play with the wrong clock, so redoing the play is the right call.

3. Soviets throw a lob pass which the US defends incredibly poorly.

• The US really only have themselves to blame for that last play. I've seen some bad defense in my days, having followed the suns through their decade-long playoff drought, but allowing a cross-court pass resulting in a wide-open bunny under the basket is some of the worst defence imaginable. Seriously, what is McMillan doing on that last play? Making him defend the inbound passer on a cross-court pass is already dumb enough as it is, but he's not even doing that, he just seems to be stuck in no man's land. Give credit where credit is due though, that was Jason Kidd level accuracy on that inbound pass.

Overall, yes the refs screwed up, but really only on the second inbound play. Definitely shameful, but nothing tantamount to a coordinated cheating effort - especially considering that the games were held in West Germany.

you missed the illegal substitution AND the ref not letting McMillan guard the inbound passer,

The McMillian thing seems like his fault. On the second throw-in he was guarding the inbounds. On the third throw-in the ref does that hand motion drawing the line not to cross. McMillian back pedals for some reason instead of stepping up to the line, that’s on him.

[Mr Puddles]

It was a complete and total screw job. Good for the players for not accepting those medals

It was clearly a screw-up from the refs, clearly, but it still seems childish to not show up for the medal ceremony. It's not like this is the first time in sports history that the refs made a mistake. If every team that felt wronged by the refs didn't show up for the medal ceremony we'd be looking at a lot of empty stages.

At the end of the day, the US made a tactical error on that last inbound play and ended up losing the game - even with the refs' screw-up they still had the lead with three seconds to go, they have themselves to blame for defending that last play poorly.

I understand the geopolitical situation at the time adds more context to this, but it seems childish and salty to not show up IMO.

It was no mistake, the refs were from east Germany and Romania which were both close Soviet allies.

I could be convinced that it was simple mistakes if not for allowing illegal substitutions and forcing the US player away from guarding the inbound play.

Regarding the illegal substitution:
under Fiba rules you can only substitute during a time-out, since team USA claims that no time-out was ever called the substitution was therefore illegal. The Soviets claimed they called a time-out and that they could thus substitute.

Again, it's not clearly visible in the video if a timeout was called or not - but logic would dictate the Soviet Union would call a timeout on that play. It would be a colossal coaching error. Apparently, the Soviets also had a set inbound play for this (the one they executed) because the two players had run this play a number of times before at CSKA Moscow.

I personally find it far more likely that a timeout was called than that it wasn't and therefore the substitution should have been allowed as well.

Regarding forcing McMillan away from the inbound player:
I don't see this happening. The ref is drawing the line with his hand, this is a pretty common practice for refs. The fact that McMillan doesn't simply take a step back and continues to try to interfere but instead seems to run back and wave for his teammates to wave back as well also makes me believe that this wasn't the refs doing.

Again, I don't see the 'evidence' for this game being rigged like was argued by the OP.

Question:
If the refs were really in cahoots to let the Soviets win, why send Doug Collins - arguably the US's best free throw shooter - to the line? Wouldn't it have been much easier to call a travel or something or just swallow their whistle on that last play? Or call a foul on team USA on the Soviet player who turned over the ball leading to the Collins free throw attempts? Instead of coming up with this elaborate clock and time-out scheme?

[wojoaderge]

McMillen

[ryan in Maine]

I can't believe people are defending the Soviets. You must have footage not available to the public. It was clearly a fix in the Soviets' favor.

[inonba]

Even before commenting, can people please familiarize themselves with the concept of sports, competition in general. I've debated with people on this topic in the past. The only conclusion I can draw is people simply don't understand the concept of what fair is.

In every case, I outlined 3 basic principles in competition:
1. A party at fault cannot benefit from an error.
2. A party in the right cannot be penalized for an error it did not caused.
3. Once you choose to play on, you've deemed to have accepted the error and what has been played cannot be un-played.

For those who can't agree on these 3 doctrines that govern competition, please don't waste others people's time because you are wrong plain and simple.

[sp6r=underrated]

Worst fix job in Olympic history below. You don't need to know anything about boxing to understand this. Watch the entire fight.

"

Watch on YouTube

;t"

[Quattro]

Russians cheating at the Olympics? That’s news.

[NPZ]

Its funny, that in Soviet Union this game was remember as one of the greatest moments in sports history. Just only after I got internet, learned English, and Started hanging out with NBA crowd, I started to see the opposite side, America sees this game as one of the biggest cheats ever. Funny how it is, Soviets never talked that is in aany way could have been claimed by error of any kind, just a fair square victory.

Thanks for sharing! At risk of sounding un-patriotic, I was kind of happy for the Russians watching the footage, while also feeling badly for the Americans.

A Soviet bloc referee who didn't speak English also screwed Evander Holyfield out of the gold medal in the 84 Olympics in LA. He called a timeout right as Holyfield was midpunch (he hit the opponent and knocked him down). He disqualified Holyfield for it. Holyfield couldn't retract a punch mid-flight. Everyone knew he got absolutely screwed and the Euro guy who won the gold shook Holyfield's hand and brought him up to the 1st place step along with him.

Their refs and officials were the REAL enemies.

[NPZ]

I can't believe people are defending the Soviets. You must have footage not available to the public. It was clearly a fix in the Soviets' favor.

Kids just learning about it for the first time and shooting off an opinion w/o actually watching the gm. Problem w/ exposing this in a thread is that their first halfassed assumption gets posted w/o any time to watch the game or to watch it and then chew on what they saw. Not an uncommon thing at RealGM.