|
Both
teams came into their respective Olympics with real
issues.
In 1992
the Dream Team had to deal with the stigma of the ’88
team’s loss to the Russians in Seoul, South Korea. Only
the USSR was now several fractured republics in the wake
of perestroika and glasnost. But it should be noted that
the stars of those Soviet teams were Lithuanians Arvydas
Sabonis, Arturas Karnisovas, Rimas Kurtinaitis,
Valdemaras Chomicius and Sarunas Marculionis so when
they finally had their independence, they were still
pretty much a strong squad. Remember those Lietuva
sweats that were designed by the Grateful Dead (Rooney
was a star with Golden State and their coach was Donn
Nelson)?
The US
National Teams were losing a lot in international
competition and, quite frankly, the Americans had enough
of sending kids to do a man’s job more so when the
Europeans were sending their pros who almost all played
in the Euro Leagues.
Yet
Chuck Daly’s troops came into the Tournament of the
Americas with only a few weeks’ rest and they still
walloped the competition en route to their first gold
that summer.
Then
came Barcelona, which was supposed to be the acid test.
After a
46-0 run that sent Angola scampering for cover for the
first demolition job of the games, the Dream Team played
Croatia in what was seen as a probable preview of the
gold-medal match. The Baltic country had some very good
players in the late Drazen Petrovic (of the New Jersey
Nets), Toni Kukoc (Benetton Treviso), Dino Radja (Virtus
Roma), Stojko Vrankovic (third string center for the
Boston Celtics) and sharp shooter Arijan Komazec (KK
Zadar). Still the Croats fell by 33.
Germany
with Detlef Schrempf (Indiana Pacers), Uwe Blab (Dallas
Mavericks) and Michael Jackel (who was well versed in
the American game having played at San Francisco
University) was next and they should have stayed home
after a 43-point loss.
Brazil
had the de Souza brothers Maury and Marcel and the
all-time Olympic basketball scoring leader Oscar
Schmidt, but it did not matter as it was routed by 44
markers.
Spain,
with its prolific trio of Jordi Villacampa, Andres
Jimenez and Enrique Andreau, was at the receiving end of
a 41-point butt kicking.
And
Puerto Rico, which had Piculin Ortiz, Ramon Rivas,
Jerome Mincy, Edgar de Leon and James Carter, fell by a
mere 38 points.
Lithuania
was crushed by 51 before the rematch with Croatia for
all the marbles. Yet it is as one wag said before the
start of the tournament, “Everyone else is playing for
the silver and the bronze.” Croatia fell once more this
time by 32; the lowest margin of victory by the
Americans.
There
were some very good stars on the international arena
then and if they weren’t household names in North
Americas, it was because the US media just pooh-pooh the
foreign leagues as inferior; something they would pay
dearly for eventually. To date, that kind of thinking
has somewhat dissipated because of the Internet, cable,
satellite television, and what is now a truism... the
world has finally caught up.
But in
1992, for all the great stars outside the confines of
the NBA hardcourt, every one still had much catching up
to do as the Dream Team averaged 117.3 points, 36
rebounds, 29.9 assists, 22 steals and 5.9 blocks per
game.
You
might want to read that stat line again. The assists
alone…who the hell averages 29.9 assists per game?
The
Redeem Team averaged 106.3 ppg, 18.8 apg, 12.5 spg and
3.9 bpg.
Points-wise, Charles Barkley averaged 18 flat, Michael
Jordan 14.9, Karl Malone 13 even, Chris Mullin 12.9 and
Chris Drexler 10.5 to round out double-digit scoring.
Save for
Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Christian Laettner, every
single player was in his prime.
They ran
their foes out of the gym that it didn’t matter if they
shot poorly from three-point range (although they nailed
the shots that mattered). After they dismantled Croatia
in the second game of eliminations where Jordan and
Scottie Pippen embarrassed a flustered Toni Kukoc,
Croatia came back strong in the gold-medal game.
Remember Charles Barkley’s three-point shot that
silenced Croatia after it made a run? He stared down
their bench and their crowd, and it was all over after
that. They played physical (with Barkley, Malone and
Ewing, what do you expect?) and cribbed a line from
Barnum and Bailey as they put on the Greatest Show on
Earth.
But
they, too, were with controversy. The Dream Team lost to
the Developmental team, led by Penny Hardaway, Allan
Houston and Grant Hill, in one pickup game that, when
the return match began, Jordan pointed to Houston and
said, “He ain’t getting any threes today.” Game over in
a few minutes. Remember, Barkley nearly caused an
international incident when he elbowed an Angolan (the
African nation almost declared war on the United States
of Alabama after that)? How about the Reebok flap when
the Round Mound said he has 3 million reasons not to
wear the competitor’s brand?
While it
will be unfair to compare the Redeem Team with the Dream
Team’s All-time Greatest Tags only because many of these
players’ careers aren’t done by a long shot, this team,
too, faced controversy heading to Beijing. There were
the failed campaigns in Athens and Fiba. And the NBA
landscape is far different from 1991-92 season that
preceded the Olympics. Now foreign players are common
and have become franchise players.
But ’92
began the invasion. After the gold-medal match, Jordan
shook hands with Croatia’s Toni Kukoc and said, “See you
in Chicago.” Dino Radja would become the man in the
middle in Boston for three-and-a-half years. Arvydas
Sabonis would show them a glimpse of his greatness when
he was center for Portland. Schrempf would be a vital
part of the 1996 Seattle Supersonics who battled for the
NBA title.
The
Redeem Team follows the same issue that “the world has
caught up to the Americans.” Unfortunately, they, too,
have to play Goodwill Ambassadors after that boorish
2004 team in Athens (it was the reverse for the Dream
Team for the so-called Dream Team II, and their
crotch-grabbing ways put off everyone in Atlanta in
1996).
Talented, quick, overpowering, the Redeem Team is every
bit as relentless as its predecessors. Everyone on this
team may be in his prime but that doesn’t necessarily
mean they’ll run the Dream Team out of the gym. Larry
Bird and Magic Johnson were all but retired up to this
point but they contributed in every way (Bird averaged
8.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg and 1.7 apg, while the Magic Man added
8 ppg, 2.3 rpg and 4.1 apg). And speaking of Bird and
Magic, the Barcelona team played hurt as Bird (bad
back), Johnson (hamstring), John Stockton (broken leg
bone) and Patrick Ewing (cut finger) battled an
assortment of injuries. So the fascinating thing there
is even if they were less than 100 percent, they still
had the élan to blow the crap out of everyone pretender.
The
Redeem Team more or less has been together for some time
now and that familiarity greatly helped it in its play.
Dwight Howard and Chris Bosch holding up a thin front
line. They blitzed foes with the in-your-face defense
and athleticism of Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, LeBron
James and Carmelo Anthony.
The ’92
Olympians, other than the annual All-Star Game, only got
to play with each other a week of practice before the
Tournament of the Americas and a month before the
Olympics. But they got their act together quickly and
outplayed their opponents that said a lot of the team’s
character and firepower.
Of
course, there was that reverence factor in 1992 that
isn’t there anymore today. Teams are just raring to
completely end American dominance. The legacy of the
Dream Team was to introduce the game to more people, and
Pau and Marc Gasol were among the youngsters who saw
them play in Barcelona. Argentina’s Manu Ginobili spent
hours watching Jordan’s Come Fly With Me until the tape
would no longer play.
But
while Spain, China and Argentina are way more talented
than any of their previous national teams, Lithuania’s
and Croatia’s are not. Their ’92 counterparts are even
better. And in case anyone has been keeping tabs,
where’s Serbia?
After
the breakup of the Yugoslav states, Serbia had a very
good team with Vlade Divac, Dejan “White Magic” Bodiroga,
Predrag Danilovic, Zarko Paspalj, Zeljko Rebraca and
Dejan Tomasevic, but were unable to compete because of
UN sanctions owing to the war in Serbia and Montenegro.
This was obviously half of the former Yugoslav National
Team that featured the mainstays of the Croatian squad.
Given
all the circumstance of both squads, it’s almost like
comparing apples and oranges. But for the sake of this
fanboy debate, which squad is better?
Let
then-Cuban national coach Miguel Calderon’s description
of the American squad after a 136-57 dismantling in the
’92 Tournament of the Americas be the last word.
“You
cannot cover the sun with your finger.” |
