Although it has been nearly a week since Team USA bagged their fifth straight gold medal at the Paris Olympics, fans are still ecstatic about their victory. And why wouldn’t they be? After all, we got to see legends like Stephen Curry, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant, team up probably for the first and only time, and conquer the world. But veteran ESPN analyst Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo revealed that he has had enough of the exaggerated celebrations, causing Stephen A. Smith to threaten his colleague for his lost patriotism.

During a segment on First Take, Russo made a controversial statement, “I am sick of this USA Basketball men’s side making a big deal about winning the gold medal.” Downplaying their victory, Russo claimed that Team USA was supposed to win anyway as they had a “million Hall of Famers on this team” and were a 16-point favorite to win in the final against France. Then, ‘Mad Dog’ made an even more shocking revelation, “I was rooting for France for crying out loud.”

As expected, Stephen A. Smith was not happy with Russo’s disrespect toward Team USA and said, “I should have security remove you from the show. I really should have them throw you out.” It was all in good fun as the two have been colleagues for a few years and share a great relationship. But Smith still questioned Russo’s allegiance, “There is no excuse for you to be a citizen of the United States of America and be rooting against Team USA in Olympic competition. Where’s your patriotism?” Soon after, he honored Team USA with all the glory they deserved for the gold medal win and began “USA” chants in the studio.

Stephen A. Smith explains why Team USA’s win was not easy

With Russo trying to undermine Team USA’s win in Paris, Stephen A. Smith was forced to explain what made this victory so historic. First and foremost, he pointed out the difference between playing FIBA-style basketball and NBA basketball. Because of the difference in rules and even court dimensions, it took Team USA players a little bit of getting used to playing on the international stage. Meanwhile, most players in opposing countries have spent their entire careers playing according to FIBA rules.

Then, Stephen A. reminded Russo that even other teams had NBA players which made the level of competition much more difficult. Sure enough, Team USA faced multiple superstars in the final two games, including Victor Wembanyama, Nikola Jokic, and Rudy Gobert. And finally, the analyst sang praises of Stephen Curry’s heroics in winning his first gold medal, “Nothing can take away from that 2 minutes 48 seconds when Steph Curry just put on an absolute show.” When his team needed him the most, Steph delivered two historic performances against Serbia and France, combing for 60 points in both games. To cap it all off, he hit four clutch threes in the final to seal the gold medal for his country.

Even though Team USA was the favorite to win it all, the amount of pressure that was on them to return home with a gold medal made their journey that much more difficult. So now that they have won, they can celebrate in whichever way they want to. Do you agree?

Before you go, do not forget to check out this crossover between BG12 and Georgia Bulldogs star Asia Avinger