Dream Team Returns to Form
S Y D N E Y, Australia, Sept. 23, 2000 -- Things returned to normal for the U.S.
men’s basketball team.
Shrugging off their lackluster performance two days earlieragainst Lithuania, the Americans had the kind of dominatingperformance that is expected from them in an 102-56 victory overNew Zealand today.
Shooting one of their highest percentages of the Olympics andasserting their superiority right from the outset, the U.S. teambeat up on the weakest opponent in their bracket after beatingLithuania by just nine points two nights earlier.
Vince Carter and Kevin Garnett led the way in the beginning,dunking and shooting from the outside with equal dexterity. Theyfinished with 18 and 14 points, respectively.
Allan Houston added 17 and Antonio McDyess 15.
One Man Short
The Americans were a man short as Alonzo Mourning was back homein Miami for the birth of his daughter, Myka Sydney, who weighed inat 7 pounds, 7 ounces at 5:17 p.m. Friday — about 11 hours beforetipoff.
The U.S. team didn’t miss him, though. Not in the slightest.
They went ahead by 10 points with 8:17 gone, got the lead up to20 on a jumper by Garnett less than 3½ minutes later and went tothe locker room with a 58-32 lead after Tim Hardaway hit a long3-pointer at the buzzer.
The lead reached 30 on a reverse layup by McDyess with 13:03left in the game and 40 with 3:07 left.
The margin of victory didn’t quite match their 47-pointtrouncing of China in their first game, but that game stayed closefor almost six minutes whereas this one didn’t stay tight even halfthat long.
Hot Shooting, Cool Dunking
New Zealand tied it at 4-4 and pulled within two at 9-7 beforethe Americans went on a 31-8 run and took a 40-15 lead on a dunk byShareef Abdur-Rahim.
Carter, who had trouble finishing off three alley-oop dunks inthe previous two games, had no such troubles on his first dunkattempt this time. It actually was a reverse slam off an alley-ooppass, and Carter made two 3-pointers later in the first half.
The U.S. team shot an incredible 88 percent in the first half,making 16 of 18 shots. Gary Payton and Houston were the onlyplayers to miss from inside the 3-point line.
The barrage continued throughout the second half as theAmericans kept pulling further and further ahead.
Marks’ Dunk Impresses
The biggest highlight from New Zealand came from their lone NBAplayer, Sean Marks.
A teammate of Carter’s last season in Toronto, Marks had animpressive dunk early in the second half when he drove to thebasket with the ball held high in his left hand and slammed itthrough.
It was the kind of dunk that would impress even the best dunkersin the world, and that it did. Carter lit up with a wide smile onthe U.S. team bench as Marks ran back to play defense.
Carter got a congratulatory smile in return from Marks with fiveminutes left in the game. Isolated one-on-on against Marks in thecorner, Carter shook free for a 3-pointer that made the score91-52.
The Americans reached 100 points on a foul shots by Vin Bakerwith 12 seconds left.
Carter finished things off with an emphatic dunk with 1.8seconds left to surpass Houston for high-scoring honors.