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Dominating ways Dream Team defeats New Zealand 102-56
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Vince Carter scored 17 pounds as the U.S. men's basketball "Dream Team" shrugged off a lackluster performance to dominate New Zealand 102-56 Saturday. Shooting one of their highest percentages of the Olympics and asserting their superiority right from the outset, the Americans beat up on the weakest opponent in their bracket after downing Lithuania by just nine points two nights earlier. Carter and Kevin Garnett led the way in the beginning, dunking and shooting from the outside with equal dexterity. Garnett and Allan Houston each added 17 and Antonio McDyess had 15. "We didn't want it to be like the other night," Tim Hardaway said. "We came out hard and played strong." After the final buzzer sounded, the New Zealanders lined up two-deep in a semi-circle and performed the Maori Haka -- a challenge dance that Kiwi rugby and soccer teams traditionally perform before a game. "We did it in recognition of the team we played," New Zealand forward Phill Jones said. "Never seen anything like that before in my life," Hardaway said. "They worked hard at it, you could tell. They were right in sync." So were the Americans, even though they were a man short as center Alonzo Mourning was back home in Miami for the birth of his daughter, Myka Sydney, who came into the world about 11 hours before tipoff.
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 to 20 on a jumper by Garnett less than 3 1-2 minutes later and went to the locker room with a 58-32 lead after Tim Hardaway hit a long 3-pointer at the buzzer. Carter, who had trouble finishing off three alley-oop dunks in the previous two games, had no such troubles on his first attempt this time. It actually was a reverse slam off an alley-oop pass, 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. The barrage continued throughout the second half as the Americans kept pulling further and further ahead. The biggest highlight from New Zealand came from their lone NBA player, Sean Marks. A teammate of Carter's last season in Toronto, Marks had an impressive dunk early in the second half when he drove to the basket with the ball held high in his left hand and slammed it through. It was the kind of dunk that would impress even the best dunkers in the world. Carter lit up with a wide smile on the U.S. team bench as Marks ran back to play defense. Carter got a congratulatory smile in return from Marks with five minutes left in the game. Isolated one-on-one against Marks in the corner, Carter shook free for a 3-pointer that made the score 91-52.
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