A dedication to basketball history, catalogued and ranked for posterity, then presented in convenient list form

On this date in basketball history: August 27

Argentina shocks the U.S. at the Athens Olympics; Cynthia Cooper is the first WNBA MVP; Jerry Lucas dominates in Rome

Published on


2004

Argentina stuns the United States men’s team 89-81 in the Olympic semifinals in Athens. Manu Ginobili leads the way with 29 points while Andres Nocioni scores 13 and Luis Scola adds 10. Stephon Marbury is the leading scorer for the U.S. with 18 points, while Allen Iverson shoots just 3-of-12 from the field. It’s an upset in the other semifinal as well, with Italy defeating Lithuania 100-91 behind 31 points from Gianluca Basile.


1946

Otto Moore is born in Miami, Florida.

1960

Jerry Lucas drops 28 points to lead the United States men’s team to a 125-66 victory over Japan in group stage play at the Rome Olympics.

1972

The United States men’s team opens group stage play at the Olympics in Munich with a 66-35 victory over Czechoslovakia. Tom Henderson is the leading scorer with 16 points.

1994

Breanna Stewart is born in Syracuse, New York. As an eighth grader, she was already a starting center on the varsity basketball team at Cicero-North Syracuse High School.

1995

Puerto Rico defeats host Argentina 87-86 in the FIBA AmeriCup final in Neuquén. Brazil defeats Canada 97-79 to earn the bronze medal and clinch a spot in the upcoming Olympics. The United States did not participate, as they had already secured an Olympic spot in 1996 by virtue of being the hosts.

1997

Cynthia Cooper of the Houston Comets is named league MVP of the inaugural WNBA season. Cooper averaged 22.2 points per game in the 1997 season while leading the Comets to the league’s best record. Andrea Stinson of the Charlotte Sting finishes a distant second in voting.

1998

Kevin Huerter is born in Albany, New York. He was named New York “Mr. Basketball” in 2016 while starring for Shenendehowa High School.

2001

Franz Wagner is born in Berlin, Germany. His pro career started in his hometown, playing for Alba Berlin of the Basketball Bundesliga before attending the University of Michigan.

2004

The United States women’s team gets a surprisingly difficult test from Russia in the Olympics semifinals, ultimately prevailing 66-62 in Athens. Tina Thompson is the leading scorer with 14 points, while Lisa Leslie finishes with 11 points and seven rebounds. In the other semifinal, Lauren Jackson’s 26 points and 13 rebounds lead Australia to an 88-75 win over Brazil, setting up a gold medal game re-match between the Americans and Aussies.

2023

In a shocking result at the FIBA World Cup, France is officially eliminated in the preliminary round with an 88-86 loss to Latvia. The French team had earned bronze medals in the prior two FIBA World Cup tournaments. Led by Arturs Zagars, Latvia makes a surprise run all the way to the quarterfinals, where they’re narrowly defeated by eventual champion Germany.