2024 Paris Olympics: Carlos Arroyo reflects on Puerto Rico’s stunning upset over USA two decades ago

August 15th is treated like a holiday in Puerto Rico. It’s not an official recognition, but many Puerto Ricans remember where they were on August 14, 2004, when their men’s national basketball team beat the United States 92-73 in the first game at the 2004 Athens Olympics. 

Carlos Arroyo was the star of the team. The undersized guard, with flashy handles and a deep passion for the game, finished with 25 points in the shocking win. Arroyo had a nine-year NBA career, but to this day, the first thing people talk to him about is the 2004 Olympic win over the Americans. 

“They all remember where they were that night watching the game,” Arroyo told CBS Sports. “It was so impactful that people remember the specifics of that day.”

The magnitude of that moment cannot be understated. Puerto Rico handed the U.S. its third loss ever on the Olympic stage and first loss since NBA players were allowed to compete in the Summer Games. It wasn’t the most powerful roster the U.S. has sent to the Olympics, but it still featured some of the best players in the league at the time. Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury and Amar’e Stoudemire were all featured pieces on that team. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony all made their first Olympic appearances that year, too, though their playing time was limited in favor of the veterans. 

That loss to Puerto Rico was the beginning of Team USA’s most disappointing performance at the Summer Games, a bronze medal finish. This led to a massive change in how seriously the United States took international competition. It led to the “Redeem Team” at the 2008 Beijing Games, where all the top American stars competed to show that 2004 was just a hiccup.

You could say that none of that would’ve happened had it not been for Puerto Rico handing the United States its most significant loss in Olympic history. What is viewed as a dark moment for American men’s basketball marked a moment of pride, not just for Arroyo and the rest of the team, but for the entire commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

It was a quintessential David vs. Goliath moment between the two teams. The United States consistently produces the top talent in men’s basketball, and if they were going to lose a game, it certainly wouldn’t be to an island that has had just nine basketball players last more than one season in the NBA.

In the 13 months leading up to that game, Puerto Rico had lost five times to the United States. Each loss was by a large double-digit margin, but that familiarity helped Arroyo and his teammates prepare for when the two sides faced each other on the first day of the Olympic tournament. “We got to know their tendencies, strengths and weaknesses, and we just felt comfortable,” Arroyo said.

Right off the bat, Puerto Rico flipped the script on the United States. Instead of playing man-to-man defense as they had in all their previous meetings over the last year, Puerto Rico opened in a zone defense, limiting easy shots at the rim and testing the United States’ ability to knock down 3s.

It caught the Americans off guard, resulting in a 21-20 lead for Puerto Rico at the end of the first quarter. By halftime, that lead ballooned to 22 points. Arroyo had confidence in his team’s preparation and execution, but a 22-point lead against the United States at the Olympics? Unfathomable.

“We knew that we needed to play an almost perfect game, limit our mistakes and make good decisions, because when you play a team like USA, they’ll make you pay for every mistake you make,” Arroyo said. “But we had no idea that we were going to execute to the perfection that we did. To have a lead of 22 points at halftime, we were in the locker room looking at each other like, we’re up 22 against USA. For us, it was like, can the game end right now?”

The United States went on a couple of runs in the second half but never got the score close enough to make Puerto Rico sweat. When Arroyo checked out of the game with a minute left and Puerto Rico up by 19 points, he grabbed his jersey to show off the “Puerto Rico” across the front of his jersey. The image of that moment is now literally in the history books. 

Arroyo’s autographed that image hundreds of times over the years, but when a kid in Puerto Rico approached him with a history book from his school a few years ago, he was stunned to see that iconic image literally in a history book. “I couldn’t believe it,” Arroyo said. “That’s when it really shocked me just to see that because, at times, you don’t understand the impact of things because you’re in the moment.”

The weight of the moment didn’t hit Arroyo back then, but he’s fully recognized the lasting impact he’s had. He tries to rewatch the game on the anniversary of the win each year, August 15th, and he notices something different every time. On the most recent rewatch, he noticed how toned down the team’s celebration was after pulling off such a historic upset. It was partially because they knew they had another game the next day to prepare for, but also because of how much they respected the United States team. “These are players that we all look up to and respect, so we wanted to do it with class as well,” Arroyo said.

Puerto Rico finished sixth at the 2004 Olympics, their highest place since finishing fourth in 1964. It’s also the last time the men’s basketball team qualified for the Olympics until this year. After beating Lithuania 79-68 in an Olympic-qualifying tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico captured a spot in the 2024 Paris Games. It’s 20 years after Arroyo’s breakout moment, and he’ll be traveling with the team to France, but this time as the general manager of the national team.

The symmetry of the moment is undeniable. Just like in 2004, this year’s Puerto Rican team is led by another passionate NBA guard, Jose Alvarado. When the team earned a bid to compete this summer, Arroyo called it a “full circle” moment. A video that has now gone viral showed Alvarado embracing Arroyo after the final buzzer sounded, signifying a passing of the torch between the two. Arroyo was visibly emotional as Alvarado tossed him the ball and hugged him tightly in front of a raucous 13,504 fans at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot.

“He could have ran to his family, he could have ran to the middle of the floor, he could have done so many things,” Arroyo said. “But for him to take that moment, come to me, waited until the clock ran out and threw me the ball and then picked me up. It was just unbelievable. He understood how much that moment meant for basketball, and he let me know how much he appreciated me for the moment that I had 20 years ago. You know, he was a baby then, and it let me know how much that moment 20 years ago inspired him and his family by seeing what he did, so it was just beautiful.”

The emotion Arroyo displayed wasn’t just because of the nostalgia of it all. As general manager, he’s spent the last several years building this team for this moment. In 2022, he successfully recruited Alvarado to play for the national team. During the FIBA World Cup qualifiers that year, Alvarado averaged 21 points, 5.5 assists and five rebounds. Later that year, former second-round NBA draft pick Tremont Waters led Puerto Rico to a 12th-place finish at the FIBA World Cup, the best since Arroyo carried the team to a seventh-place finish in 2002. Earning a bid to the Olympics this year felt like Arroyo’s hard work assembling this team finally paid off.

And if that wasn’t enough of a full circle moment, there’s this: Puerto Rico will once again face the United States in group play, with the two teams set to compete on Aug. 3. They’ll need to execute a near-perfect game to pull off another upset, just like Arroyo and company did 20 years ago. But unlike last time, this isn’t the Team USA squad from 2004. The roster is littered with first-ballot Hall of Famers, NBA champions, All-Stars and All-Defensive players. It’s arguably the best roster assembled since the 2008 Redeem Team.

But Arroyo’s defied expectations once before. And while he won’t be lacing his shoes up to take the court this time around, the message will be the same for this year’s Olympic quad. 

“It’s never impossible, Arroyo said. “It’s just never impossible.”