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Sports documentaries are trendy and popular and are therefore massively made by streaming services. Netflix will therefore come with the documentary film on October 7, 2022 The Redeem Team. It will be about the USA national basketball team that won gold at the 2008 Olympics, after Team USA must have been surprisingly happy with bronze four years earlier.
The story of The dream team is known. In 1992 in Barcelona, players from the NBA, the biggest basketball league in the world, were allowed to participate in the Olympics for the first time. This caused Team USA to descend on Spain with the trio of Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. They were completed by other world stars such as Scottie Pippen, Patrick Ewing, David Robinson, Clyde Drexler, Karl Malone, John Stockton and Charles Barkley. The team was immediately the face of the 1992 Games.
Team USA was so good that Jordan didn’t even have to play at his best. He was only the fifth player in the United States in most points per game. On average, the United States have won their games by 43.8 points. In the final, Venezuela went for the ax 127-80.
Decline in 2004
The story of The Redeem Team is much less known. After USA won gold medals at the 1996 and 2000 Games, arrogance crept into the team in 2004. Players like Vince Carter, Jason Kidd, Tracy McGrady, Ray Allen and others were injured or preferred to go on vacation to Athens.
Coach Larry Brown thus had to rely heavily on young, unproven talent – like LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade – and a few lesser gods. The only two All-Stars on the list were Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson. The result was obvious. The American team has lost no less than three times, including in the semi-finals of the last Argentinian champions. In the small final, they only narrowly managed to take bronze against Lithuania. In the United States, this bronze medal was seen as a disappointment.
The Redeem Team
At the 2008 Olympics, it was therefore necessary to take revenge. Legendary Duke College coach Mike ‘Coach K’ Krzyzewski was named national coach, while Kobe Bryant became team captain. Only players who really wanted to commit to the American team and participate in all the preparation were allowed to come to Beijing.
The selection was ultimately made up of no less than eleven All-Stars with Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd, LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard and many other top players. The ESPN sports channel followed the preparations for the Games with a special program Road to redemption.
The plan worked, as the United States reached the final without any problems. The nerves were going to strike against the strong Spanish team for a while, but in the end they had to believe it too with 118-107. So, after four years, there was finally redemption for Team USA. Since then, the United States will never miss the Olympic title again.
netflix
This beautiful story inspired Netflix to make a documentary. The Redeem Team was produced by Dwyane Wade and LeBron James, who witnessed the events from the front row. “I felt the guys really wanted to talk about it. They all won things. They all did amazing things. But I think the enthusiasm, the candor and the emotion they brought showed that they wanted to honor the memory of the team and its importance. At some point, our first six interviews all ended in tears. It was obviously so emotional for the players on this team,” Wade describes in the documentary.
The Redeem Team will be the first-ever collaboration between Netflix and the International Olympic Committee. There will also be new images.
The Redeem Team will premiere on Netflix on October 7.
