The Other Dream Team
Lithuania's financial situation in the wake of their independence left them nearly unable to field a Basketball team in the 1992 Olympics. They ended up being able to participate due in part to a sponsorship from the Grateful Dead. Here is the 1992 team in their tie-dye uniforms.
The most famous names on the Lithuanian 1992 team are definitely Arvydas Sabonis, one of the best players ever to come out of Europe and Šarunas Marčiulionis (front row 3rd from the right), a GS WARRIORS legend. Šarunas was already in the NBA by then and through his mighty effort, they got the Grateful Dead to sponsor the team. He is the reason Lithuania's national team happened.
In 2012, the famous Lithuanian team was featured in a documentary named - The Other Dream Team is a film directed by Marius A. Markevičius. It covers the inspirational story of the 1992 Lithuania national basketball team and their journey to the bronze medal at the Summer Olympics in Barcelona. The film not only looks at the Lithuanian team but also at the broader historical events. The fall of the Soviet Union allowed Lithuania to reestablish its independence and enter the Olympics as an independent country. After 50 years of Soviet oppression, the Lithuanian basketball team was a symbol of hope and liberation.[1]
The film includes interviews with many famous basketball figures such as Arvydas Sabonis, David Stern, Jim Lampley, Bill Walton, and Šarūnas Marčiulionis. The title is an allusion to the Dream Team, the first American Olympic basketball team to feature active NBA players.
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In case you're wondering, in the bronze medal game, Lithuania beat the CIS (82-78) Commonwealth of Independent States, otherwise known as the Soviet national team. In the gold medal game, the famous 1992 Dream Team beat Croatia (117- 85), who was lead by the late great Drazen Petrovic.
