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 On to Sydney U.S. stomps Argentina 88-59, will face Canada in final
Posted: Sunday July 25, 1999 12:05 PM
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Take away the first nine minutes, and this clinch was a cinch. The United States qualified with relative ease Saturday for the 2000 Olympics, weathering a semi-lengthy stretch in which Argentina held the lead and beating their overmatched opponent 88-59. "I think we all feel proud that we're allowed to represent our country in the Olympics, and we feel a little bit sad that Argentina is not getting to go," coach Larry Brown said. "A lot of the teams we played just played to survive. I thought Argentina tried to win, and they should be very proud." In a game largely devoid of emotion or excitement, the Americans broke things open midway through the first half with a 23-2 run. The U.S. team was never challenged again in locking up a spot in next summer's Olympics before a crowd that was less than 2,000 when the game began. Canada clinched an Olympic berth in the other semifinal, defeating Puerto Rico 83-71 behind 26 points from Steve Nash of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks. Canada will face the United States in the Tournament of the Americas gold medal game Sunday night. "To come out here for one of our biggest games, it's on NBC, and there's only 1,000 people in the gym, it's strange," guard Steve Smith said. "In the NBA you're spoiled, you always have a crowd. But that's one thing I learned down here: No matter what the situation is, you've still got to play." As has usually been the case with the Americans in this tournament, no one player stood out Saturday. Tim Hardaway scored a team-high 17, Gary Payton had 16 points, seven assists and four steals, Kevin Garnett added 11 points, eight rebounds and four steals and Tom Gugliotta scored 10. The big difference this time was the amount of time Argentina was able to hold onto a lead -- a full six minutes. "You've got to respect them," Garnett said. "They got to the semis, so you can't take a team like that for granted." The U.S. team had trailed for a total of only 6 minutes and 54 seconds in its first eight games, and Argentina, which came in with a five-game winning streak, nearly doubled that number by starting the game with an effective man-to-man defense and limiting the Americans' fast break opportunities. Hugo Sconochini drove baseline for a dunk that made it 5-3, and a pair of foul shots by Luis Scola gave Argentina its largest lead, 17-10. "All of us know that in basketball, if the Dream Team was to lose a game in this type of competition it would be a miracle," Argentina coach Julio Lamas said. "Every time a coach or a player has a dream in his heart, some of them show it, others don't show it. Some people tell the dream, some people keep it to themselves."The situation at that moment [leading by seven] was between that and not wanting to think about it, but about thinking about every possession, offensive and defensive. And that's what I was thinking every moment until there were seven minutes left, when there was no place for a dream." The U.S. team, ran off the next six points, including an alley-oop dunk by Garnett off a steal by Jason Kidd, but couldn't catch all the way up until Garnett hit a bank shot and a foul shot for a three-point play that tied it at 23-23 with 10:23 left. That started the game-breaking 23-2 run that included seven points from Hardaway and ended with a fast-break layup by Smith off a steal by Garnett and a behind-the-back bounce pass from Payton for a 43-25 lead. The U.S. team scored eight of the first 10 points of the second half and took its first 20-point lead, 57-37, on a short jumper in the lane by Kidd with 16:49 left. From there, it was simply a matter of playing out the clock and maintaining a comfortable lead. A pair of foul shots by Tim Hardaway with 5:48 left made it 78-52, and a dunk by Elton Brand with 17 seconds left gave the Americans their final points and their largest lead -- 29. "We just went in there, did our jobs and got out," Payton said. The Americans improved their record to 39-0 when using a roster of NBA players. The United States has a 101-2 record in Olympic men's basketball competition. Canada 83, Puerto Rico 71 Canada led 38-32 at halftime behind 15 points from Nash and quickly upped the lead to 17 as Michael Meeks scored the first five points of the second half and Nash followed with two 3-pointers. A jumper by Rowan Barrett with 10:45 left made it a 19-point lead, and it would take almost seven full minutes for Puerto Rico to whittle its deficit to single digits, 69-60 on a 3-pointer by Jerome Mincy. A three-point play by Jose Ortiz with 2:50 left made it 73-66, but Sherman Hamilton of Canada scored the next four points to send the crowd streaming toward the exits before the clock ticked inside the final minute.
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