It finally happened. The world got a glimpse of the basketball greatness that was promised earlier this year when Team USA assembled this group of NBA all-stars.
After a solid but uninspiring showing in the first nine games of the Olympic qualifying tournament, the United States erupted in the gold-medal game, battering what had been a hopeful Argentina team, 106-73, last night. The win gave the U.S. team a 10-0 record in the tournament and avenged its awful showing in the World Games last year.
Both teams advance to the 2004 Athens Olympics.
The U.S. had its reasons for wanting to make a statement last night. The Puerto Rican coach recently accused the U.S. team of going through the motions, and there was some sentiment yesterday that they could lose to this talented Argentina squad. Argentina, after all, had given the U.S. its toughest game of the tournament, playing the Americans closely before losing by 10 points earlier in the week.
The U.S. quickly ended such speculation by scoring 21 straight points in a five-minute stretch spanning the first and second quarters. It was a highlight-filled rout reminiscent of an NBA All-Star Game, except with sensational defense. There were blocks and steals and no-look passes and what seemed like dunks by the dozen.
Tim Duncan led the charge with 19 first-half points as the U.S. took a 60-27 halftime lead. But it was (surprise, surprise) Toronto's Vince Carter who stole the show by putting on his own dunk-fest during the run. All four of Carter's eight first-half points came on dunks, including back-to-back ones that punctuated the American run.
"We got layups and dunks and after a while you just wear people down," Duncan said. "This was a great type of game for us to end the tournament with."