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BEIJING: Kobe Bryant defended the United States basketball team after the failure of his World Cup campaign, declaring Friday (September 13): "The time of the "Dream Team" of 1992 in Barcelona is over. "
An American team missing their biggest names was beaten for the second time in as many days Thursday in China and remains to fight for a better place finish, the seventh.
It's a sad end to a long reign on international basketball that has won three consecutive Olympic gold medals and two world crowns.
LeBron James and the other A-Listers of the NBA did not visit China.
But Los Angeles Lakers legend Bryant said in Beijing: "The best players you think, which will make the best players you can put on the table, you will always have challengers.
"It's not going to be a walk."
Bryant, 41, who won gold at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games, added: "The era of Barcelona's" Dream Team "of 1992 is over, so it will be difficult.
The star formation that won the gold medal in 1992 is often cited as one of the best sports teams ever assembled.
The United States, which had one of the youngest teams at the World Cup in China, is now facing a threat to their Olympic title in Tokyo next summer.
"It's not a matter of catching up with the rest of the world compared to the United States," Bryant warned.
"It's that the rest of the world has caught up for some time, to a point where … we're just going to win and lose it."
Earlier, a key member of the US team, eliminated in the quarter-finals of the World Cup, injured the "disrespect" and "defamation" against the fallen champion.
Myles Turner of the Indiana Pacers of the NBA has passionately defended the United States team.
In writing on Twitter, the 23-year-old center said: "We have been short, we can not be more upset than we are, but I refuse to tolerate any slander of our play, you can not question our heart, our character our spirit. "
Turner added, "Do not respect us, this coaching staff or USA Basketball as a whole, but respect the world.World basketball is an international game, these countries are talented."
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