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Updated: August 29, 4:00 PM ET Why Team USA should believe in miracles By Scott Howard-Cooper Special to ESPN.com |
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Vlade Divac took his usual postseason trip home to Yugoslavia and was so overwhelmed by requests to play in the World Championships that he changed his mind on being retired from international play. That's all anyone needs to know about why the United States could lose in Indianapolis. Won't, but could. National pride made him do it. "I was 100 percent sure I wasn't going to play," Divac said. "But they started talking about me back home. I would deny it -- 'I can't. I can't. I can't.' It was really trying for me. But they started using it like a campaign." Passion about the event. What a concept. That's in contrast to the host country, not even in terms of fan interest or media coverage about who is not on Team USA as much as who is -- that's another conversation in itself -- but in the regard in which the event is held. Of course, it eases things that the United States already has an event to determine the best team in the world. It's called the NBA Finals.
It would take enough of an upset for the United States to lose a game, let alone the gold. Imagine how many players from the opposing team that night would have to play unconscious at the same time while Team USA goes into a collective slump. Even Yugoslavia, the favorite for silver, would have to play out of its mind. (Divac: "Realistically, we are the second-best team. But you never know. Just like playing the Lakers. The better team sometimes loses.") (Send the e-mails to Divac. He said it.) So will it happen? No. But it wouldn't take Munich '72 either. "I'm sure it's only a matter of time," Pacers guard Reggie Miller said of the possibility of a U.S. defeat. "Obviously, the pressure's on us." How could a U.S. collapse occur in Indianapolis? Here are reasons why it might actually happen.
In Puerto Rico, for example, Jose Ortiz, the former Oregon State and Jazz center, and Jerome Mincy of Alabama Birmingham have played in three Olympics and three World Championships. Two other teammates, Carmelo Travieso and Edgar Padilla, even played together on the University of Massachusetts squad that reached the 1996 Final Four. Team USA coach George Karl, aware of this, picked the minds of some of his international-team predecessors. He talked to Lenny Wilkens, Larry Brown and Rudy Tomjanovich. He read a book by Chuck Daly, who led the original Dream Team to gold in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. "Be simple," Karl said of the best advice. "Simple and build. As the team gets more comfortable, maybe add a little here, a little there." Because in many cases, the opponents have practiced and played together many times. The United States team has been together since Aug. 16.
"I've told the team to be ready for poor officiating," Karl said. "Just be ready. I think the game is different. But I think they need six referees in the NBA." Said Tomjanovich: "(Some countries) will erect a statue for a guy who has helped them. That's how I feel. We had guys who would be going in for layups, they would be grabbed to prevent an easy basket, and still there would be no call." FIBA, the world's organizing committee for basketball, has an international pool of referees. A few are from the NBA, most are not.
Team USA would have seen a lot of zone defense anyway, but probably it will see even more now since there is no inside force along the lines of Shaquille O'Neal or Tim Duncan to keep opponents honest. Defenses will have more freedom to press out on the shooters (Miller, Paul Pierce) or cut off the lanes for slashers (Shawn Marion, Michael Finley). Among the centers the United States does have -- Antonio Davis, Raef LaFrentz, Jermaine O'Neal and Ben Wallace -- LaFrentz is primarily a perimeter weapon on offense, and Wallace is known for defense and rebounding. Opponents, meanwhile, will be well-practiced at the finesse game. "You have to alter your game," Hornets guard Baron Davis, who played in the 2001 Goodwill Games in Australia, said in offering the truest perspective about how it's not always everyone else chasing the United States. "You have to play their style of basketball. These guys have been playing a certain way, and the refs are used to that. We have to adjust to them, not them to us."
"First of all, they are good," said Tomjanovich, who headed the 1998 team at the World Championships in Athens. "We have all seen the European effect on this league -- the Nowitzkis, the Vlades, the Stojakovics. The awe is gone. They've seen their countrymen play here and play well. In the old days, they idolized us." Nowadays, they look at this as a huge event. On the other hand, the favorites play in a land where winning is considered a foregone conclusion. This is shaping as another moment for Team USA. To Yugoslavia, this is potentially a major one. The possibility of the emotional boost -- of knowing that winning would be a national event back home -- could make a difference against a team that is playing to not lose. And that doesn't even get into the scenarios of what happens if Peja Stojakovic, Divac and Marko Jaric or Dejan Bodiroga get hot in the same game. There is a similar motivation for other countries, albeit not at the same level. Teams like Russia (with Andrei Kirilenko of the Jazz) or Germany (with Dirk Nowitzki of the Mavericks) or Turkey (with Sacramento's Hedo Turkoglu) may not be as serious a threat for gold. But they know that a good showing at Conseco Fieldhouse and RCA Dome could mean a major boost in prestige and support back home and around the world. The United States knows that a good showing is ho-hum expected. "I think they're really geared up," Davis said of the opposition. "They can get hot. If they can put five shooters on the floor and get hot, it's the unexpected. It's the X-factor." It's the possibility of what could happen. Won't happen. But could. Scott Howard-Cooper, who covers the NBA for the Sacramento Bee, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. |
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