Dream Team Clinches Gold

July 20, 1999 / 1:45 AM EDT / AP

The United States got its gold medals, took its bows and said to each other: "See you in Sydney."

The United States won the gold medal game of the Tournament of the Americas on Sunday night, withstanding a mild push from Canada early in the second half and going on to an easy 92-66 victory.

"We can go home," guard Steve Smith said. "If we hadn't qualified, we wouldn't have been able to go back to the United States."

It was the 40th victory without a loss for the four Dream Teams comprised of NBA players that have competed in the 1992 and 1996 Olympics, the 1994 World Championships and this Olympic qualifying tournament.

The United States won its 10 games in this tournament by an average of 31.6 points, down slightly from the 1996 Olympians' average margin of 32.3.

This, however, was the best defensive team of the bunch, limiting opponents to 66.2 points per game more than four points lower than the 1996 team's 70.3 points-against average.

And it was defense that turned the gold medal game.

Things were a little too close for the Americans early in the second half as Canada pulled within 48-40.

The United States quickly ended any thought of an upset, using a trapping, gambling defense to intercept several passes that led to eight fast-break points in a 15-0 run that put the Americans back in complete control.

Gary Payton had seven points in the pivotal run and finished with 19, giving him a team-leading average of 16.0 points in the tournament.

"Alley-oop dunks don't win games. What won these games for us was defense we got steals and easy baskets," Payton said. "We were out here to shut people down, and that's what we did."

Tim Hardaway added 14 points, Tim Duncan had 12, Steve Smith 11 and Jason Kidd, Tom Gugliotta and Kevin Garnett 10 apiece. Kidd and Payton each had three of the Americans' 11 steals and Garnett had six blocks.

"You've got to understand," said Garnett, who took a bow from the podium while accepting his gold medal, "that we've got a lot of defensive players on this team Gary Payton, Jason Kidd, Tim Duncan. We had a lot of instant offense, but we were able to trap and do things defensively that the Dream Teams before us didn't do."

In the bronze medal game, Argentina edged Puerto Rico 103-101.

Like most of their games over the past two weeks, the Americans played confidently at all times and aggressively when necessary.

They never trailed Canada, opening their first 10-point lead just over five minutes into the game, going on cruise control for the rest of the first half and turning up their energy when they needed it.

The 15-0 run gave the United States a 63-40 lead, and the margin grew to 28 on a 3-pointer by Hardaway that made it 83-55 with 3:56 left. Smith scored the final points of the tournament on a 15-foot hook shot with 1 second left.

"We came o try to play well, play together and play the right way, and I think the team did that every single night," coach Larry Brown said. "It wasn't an easy format, and I think we're all very pleased with the outcome and anxious to go on to Sydney."

Among the few sore spots Sunday for the Americans were the non-appearance of Richard Hamilton, who sat out the entire tournament after spraining his ankle in the team's first practice in Puerto Rico, the second technical foul for Payton, who threw the ball at one of the referees following an out-of-bounds call, and the bloodying of Tom Gugliotta's nose after he was inadvertently elbowed by teammate Wally Szczerbiak late in the second half.

For Canada, the lone bright spot Sunday was the play of center Todd MacCulloch, a second-round draft pick of the Philadelphia 76ers who had game-high totals of 22 points and 16 rebounds.

"He's making me look like a genius," said 76ers general manager Billy King, a member of the USA Basketball selection committee. Steve Nash of the Dallas Mavericks was held to 11 points and one assist.

The United States and Canada qualified for the 2000 Olympics with semifinal victories Saturday.

Argentina 103, Puerto Rico 101

Emanuel Ginobili scored 25 points off the bench and Hugo Sconochini added 24 for Argentina, offsetting a productive night from Jose Ortiz in his final international game for the host team.

Ortiz, who played briefly in the NBA for the Utah Jazz, had 24 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks. But it wasn't enough to prevent Puerto Rico from losing its third game in as many nights a big disappointment given the team's bold predictions going into its final second-round game against the United States.

Argentina led for almost the entire second half and took a three-point lead on two foul shots by Ginobili with 17 seconds left. Orlando Santiago made one of two foul shots with two seconds left, missing the second intentionally. After a scramble for the ball, Orlando Vega made a jump shot for Puerto Rico that came after the final buzzer

Both teams shot well from the field, Argentina hitting 54 percent and Puerto Rico 59 percent. Andres Nocioni added 13 points off the bench, and Juan Espil and Luis Scola added 12 apiece for Argentina, which did not qualify for the Olympics.