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Yugoslavia has talent to challenge U.S. Posted: Thursday August 29, 2002 5:38 PM
INDIANAPOLIS -- Everyone here at the World Basketball Championship is posing the same question to everyone else: Can any team beat the U.S.? The answer is -- has to be -- yes, of course. Surely, somebody can. If not, why bother to stage the competition at all? Skeptic that I am, I rolled into Conseco Fieldhouse for the 11 a.m. tip of Yugoslavia vs. Angola. I wanted to check up on the most plausible vanquisher of the American team, the band from Serbia that won the Worlds in Athens a quadrennium ago -- the only team besides the U.S. that can put five NBA players on the floor at the same time. The Yugos' 113-63 trifling with the African champions wasn't much of a test. Ten players logged double-figure minutes. Eleven scored -- none more than 13 points; none fewer than eight. Midway through the second quarter, perhaps out of boredom, Yugoslavia sprang a fullcourt trap. Through all the ennui, though, you could see that the Boys from the Balkans had packed all the requisite pieces. There, starting on the wing, was Marko Jaric, who'll suit up next season for the Los Angeles Clippers. With his unruly hair, scruffy jowls and single stud earring, Jaric looks like a beat poet. But he's a strong 6-foot-6, with versatility and craftiness that belie his 23 years. And he knows his way around big-game pressure from four seasons in Bologna, where he split time between Fortitudo and Virtus, crosstown archrivals in Italy's Serie A. Directing matters was Dejan Bodiroga, the best player at the 1998 Worlds, a point guard who, at 6-9, was taller than anyone on Angola's roster. Coming off the bench, but looking perfectly serviceable, were the twin Sacramento Kings, Peja Stojakovic and Vlade Divac. The latter is the finest center in the 16-team field, who delighted the Basketball Federation of Yugoslavia by asking to rejoin the national team after having passed up the Sydney Olympics. The former will contribute to the torrent of 3-pointers that will have to rain down if Yugoslavia is to have any hope in a meeting with the U.S., which couldn't occur before the quarterfinals. On one Yugoslav fast break, Divac took a touch pass from Jaric for a sweet two. Jim O'Connell, the courtside sage for the Associated Press, watched the ball zing from hand to hand and into the basket, then said, admiringly, "Very Western Conference." Sure enough, with Divac and Jaric, plus Vladimir Radmanovic and Predrag Drobnjak of the Seattle SuperSonics, the team has none of the gear-grinding unsightliness that marks the worst of the American game. The question is what those aesthetics can accomplish. Earlier this month, in Belgrade, Yugoslavia lost three straight tuneups -- to Australia, Turkey and Russia. Fans in the Serbian capital have long since sorted through the excuses and explanations. Some say playing on home turf provided too many distractions. Others say that coach Svetislav Pesic still hadn't figured out his rotation. Radmanovic has his own theory: "We weren't in shape. To lose three in front of your fans is embarrassing. The only good thing is that it happened in Belgrade, not here [in Indianapolis]." There was one other good thing. The team's recent stumbles allowed Pesic to get his roster just right. You could quibble with the team he chose, but he has a riposte for every reservation: Where's Zeljko Rebraca of the Detroit Pistons, who was such a force in the middle at the last Worlds, earning MVP honors? His heart simply wasn't in it this time. Where's Sasha Djordjevic, the lionhearted point guard who has won team and individual honors all over Europe? He's too long in the tooth, and Pesic decided to go with the generation of players that led Divac to say on Thursday, "This team has many more players with NBA quality than five years ago." Where's Dragan Tarlac, who spent the 2000-01 season with the Chicago Bulls? He's a banger, but the coach wanted skill players who complement one another. Indeed, a couple of weeks ago Pesic cut Vlado Scepanovic, star of the 2001 European Championships final in Istanbul, where his 19 points helped Yugoslavia fell the host Turks. "I won't be picking the 12 best players," Pesic vowed. "I'll pick the 12 who'll make for the best team chemistry." It's exactly the right way to approach a competition of national teams. If only the U.S. hadn't fielded a similarly well-blended group of specialists: shot-blockers like Ben Wallace, rebounders like Antonio Davis, 3-point shooters like Reggie Miller. Except for that, Yugoslavia might be able to persuade itself -- and those of us in search of a David to the U.S. Goliath -- that it was actually sneaking up on somebody. Sports Illustrated senior writer Alexander Wolff is author of Big Game, Small World: A Basketball Adventure, available online and in bookstores everywhere. He can be reached at http://www.biggamesmallworld.com.
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