The clock blinked down under a minute, and from his spot in front of the bench, Larry Brown cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “No fouls. No fouls. No fouls.”
There was no reason now for that time-saving tactic. His U.S. men’s basketball team trailed Argentina by 10 and had no hope.
Argentine center Luis Scola threw his hands up in premature celebration. The real celebrating began scant seconds later when the 89-81 victory became official Friday night at Olympic Indoor Hall.
The Argentines jumped and hugged, clambered onto chairs and waved to their fans. They gathered at half-court and, when the arena’s sound system cranked out samba music, some removed their shirts and all started to dance.
Lamar Odom was the only American who exhibited strong emotion, and it was not attractive. He walked after the referees as they left the court, a hand waving derisively in their direction, and he did not stop until a guard put a hand up in front of his chest.
The rest accepted their fate and stoically walked to the locker room.
The only thing shocking was that it was not shocking at all. For the setting here in Athens was far removed from that of the 1992 Games in Barcelona, Spain, where its opponents sought the autographs of a U.S. team that included Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.
Instead, this setting was the product of that team, which fertilized the basketball imagination around the world.
“The neat thing is the whole process of basketball is better because of what the Dream Team did in 1992,” Brown said. “There are a lot of teams out there who are extremely well coached. There are a lot of great players out there.
“Rather than knock our league, I think we have to give credit to the teams we play. We can’t put a team together idly anymore.”
Argentine guard Pepe Sanchez, a former Temple star whose NBA career included getting traded twice by Brown, said:
“It’s just a matter that the international players have lost respect [for the NBA]. We used to just take their pictures. Now so many international players are in the NBA, and we learned we’re just as good.
“They’re certainly more athletic. They’re great players. But I think we’re a little smarter and know how to play the game and the fundamentals.”
Teammate Manu Ginobili, who plays for the Spurs, added: “I don’t think the rest of the world has reached their level. But the fact that there are different rules, that they don’t bring their best, that makes it really hard.
“Those guys did their best. But the rest of the world is getting better, and to be sure they win, they have to bring their best.”
Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett and Jason Kidd were among the missing stars, as were any accomplished outside shooters. The U.S. group was pasted together, and it was not favored to win the gold medal.
They Americans played down to their diminished stature while losing to Puerto Rico and Lithuania in pool play. But they opened the medal round Thursday with their best performance of the Games by defeating favored Spain.
Stephon Marbury has ignited them in that game, shooting 66.6 percent both overall and on his threes, and together they shot 51 percent overall, 55 percent on their threes.
But that was a mirage, and against Argentina they reverted to form. Marbury missed all three of his three-point attempts and scored only by driving to the basket. The U.S. shot 3-for-11 on its threes (27.3 percent) and 32-for-77 overall (41.6 percent), and it was constantly befuddled as Argentina mixed its defenses.
This U.S. team was young and did not start practicing together until July 26.
In contrast, the core of Argentina’s team had been together since the players competed on their country’s junior team in 1996.
They know each other so well that Ginobili, when calling a play, did nothing but tug on his pants, and this familiarity helped them slice the U.S. apart.
They had 18 assists on their 32 baskets, while the U.S. had only 11. They were fluid and adept at finding the open man. They shot 54.2 percent overall and 50 percent on their threes.
They were neither as big nor as quick as the U.S., but they were smooth compared with a team that had been put together like patchwork.
“But I don’t want to make excuses,” Allen Iverson said. “The time we had is the time we had. We understood that. Was it time enough? I don’t know. But it was something we had to do.”
Said Sanchez: “If you’re a great player, you adapt to different rules. It’s been a month now for them. They should have adapted.”
Tim Duncan didn’t. He spent much of the Olympics in foul trouble and did that again Friday, playing just a little over 19 minutes and fouling out with five minutes left.
The U.S. defense didn’t either. It constantly lost players or let the Argentine guards make entry passes from the top of the circle.
“I couldn’t imagine not winning the gold medal until now,” said Marbury, one of the few who stopped to comment as the U.S. was on its way to a Saturday bronze-medal game against Lithuania.
“It’s silly and childish to blame these guys,” said assistant coach Gregg Popovich, who coaches Ginobili on the Spurs. “You have to give credit to Argentina. They were the better team.”
“It’s tough when you beat them,” Sanchez said. “Then they say we can’t play in the NBA. What I say is this is basketball, the NBA is basketball. They should admit that we’re good.”
Iverson never did say that. But he was dignified in defeat and still certain he was correct when he chose to play in Athens.
“Any person selected to a team like this, there shouldn’t be a question, there shouldn’t be any doubt in their mind,” he said. “Representing your country, what could be better than that?
“You play in the NBA, you should recognize that your country gives you the opportunity to do that. It was your country that gave you a chance to be a household name. You should understand the things the country did for you.
“So if you get a chance to represent your country, you should take it.”
