Yes, 1972 brought the first ever loss for Team USA basketball since the sport began Olympic play in 1936....but that wasn't why it was such a big deal. It was the how of the loss: With just three seconds left on the clock, the Russians were down, and the officials got sloppy, giving them another chance to inbound the ball after unsuccessfully attempting it once. (That is not the way the game is usually played.) "Forty years later, it is still being replayed," writes the New York Times of that watershed game, and it's still disputed if they should've been allowed to inbound and hit the buzzer beater that won them the gold in a victory of 51-50 over the disgruntled Americans.