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No letdown for Dream Team
SYDNEY, Australia -- For a team that has been widely criticized for being bland off the court and numbingly superior on it, the Dream Team provided a shot of electricity to the Olympic basketball competition Sunday night. The Americans' contest against China was the last of the day's four games, and the moment they took the floor, huddling at midcourt before they began warming up, a roar went up among the crowd at The Dome in Sydney. It was like the life of the party had just walked in the door. The Dreamers made short work of China's trio of 7-footers -- also known as the Great Wall -- with a 119-72 victory. By the time the Americans were finished the fans had been treated a generous allotment of alley-oops to Vince Carter and Kevin Garnett, flashy passes from Jason Kidd and Gary Payton and long-range shooting from Ray Allen, who led all scorers with 21 points and was the best player on the floor. In short, the U.S. team looked just as dominant as everyone knew they would be, although the Chinese hung in impressively until their coach, Jiang Xingquan, undermined them with some decisions that were, shall we say, unorthodox. But even without Jiang's coaching brainlock, the Americans would have cruised, because they were obviously in no mood to let the Chinese stay in the game very long. From the way Carter pumped his fist after his first dunk of the game to the intensity with which Garnett and Payton exhorted their teammates early on, it was clear that the Dreamers would not be caught sleeping. And even though their games may be one-sided, they'll keep anyone who enjoys basketball played in the stratosphere wide awake as well. Sports Illustrated senior writer Phil Taylor is in Sydney covering the
Olympic men's basketball competition for the magazine and CNNSI.com. Check back
daily to read Taylor's behind-the-scene reports from Down
Under.
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