America Invented This Game; Oscar Is Now Refining It

A blip appeared on the radar screen of U.S. basketball Wednesday. It was Oscar Schmidt, the Brazilian bomber, roaming out in 3-point country, once again showing the Americans a thing or 3 about the game they invented.

No immediate damage was sustained by the U.S. team, which beat Brazil, 102-87, but was anybody with a clipboard taking notes?

That 3-point business, the jump shot from behind the 20-foot 6-inch arc, isn’t that something the U.S. coaches should look into before it’s too late?

The United States is still the class of the basketball planet and will probably win a gold medal again, but the rest of the world is quickly closing the gap because the rest of the world has embraced the bomb.

Sure, the United States beat Brazil by 15 by banging away inside, containing Oscar and hounding to exhaustion the only Brazilian ballhandler. It was a nice win for the United States, revenge for Brazil’s 1987 Pan Am surprise.

But the fact that the badly outmanned Brazilians, fourth-best team in the tournament, even were able to stay on the court with the Americans should serve as warning that U.S. 3-point technology is lagging dangerously behind the rest of the world.

Brazil went cold in the second half Wednesday, hitting only 1 of 12 3-point attempts, but you can’t rely on these guys to misfire like that should the teams meet again in the medal round.

The 3-pointer seems to go against the grain of U.S. coaches, but then so does the whole Brazilian package, especially Schmidt.

Oscar is the king of fling, a pure gunner who never met a man he didn’t like to shoot over. He was held to 31 points Wednesday, 9 below his Olympic Games average, but Oscar and his teammates put on a great show until they went cold in the second half.

Schmidt has reduced basketball to its essentials--run, shoot, laugh, cry and shoot some more.

Defense? Life is too short.

When American Jeff Grayer got the ball near the top of the key late in the first half, Oscar yelled at Grayer: “Shoot! Shoot! I want the ball!”

Just in case Grayer misunderstood the invitation, Oscar sagged back about 3 car lengths to give his man some elbow room.

“I do not really have the mentality for defense,” Oscar has said, unnecessarily.

Maybe this isn’t the kind of fundamental ball you want to teach your American kids, but Oscar’s--and Brazil’s--style of play is fun to watch.

“New philosophy,” said Brazil Coach Ary Vidal after the game. “Every shot is a good shot.”

Every Brazil player has a green light at all times, then?

“Green?” replied Vidal. “Oh, yes.”

After all, even though it will never appear on the scoreboard and most U.S. coaches would never admit it, in basketball, points are awarded for style.

“In basketball, you have to play good, not only win,” Vidal said. “It’s a show.”

Besides, you would expect a team from Brazil to play a solemn, mechanical style of game?

“Our best shot is to run and shoot,” Vidal said.

Oscar, certainly, will never play a conservative game. He enjoys shooting too much, derives too much pure delight from challenging whatever defense he encounters. When David Robinson blocked an Oscar jump shot early in the second half, swatting it 10 feet out of bounds, Oscar jogged over and slapped 5 with the surprised Robinson.

Dan Majerle, the most effective of the 4 Americans who tried to guard Oscar, said: “I put an elbow in his midsection the whole time. He didn’t react at all.”

Oscar praised the victors.

“Very good, very good, wonderful,” he said of the U.S. defensive effort. “They deny (him the ball) every time, they don’t let me receive the ball. Best (American) defense I ever play against. They guard very intense, but very legal.”

Vidal was less impressed with the defense that held Oscar to 31 points.

“Great, great defense,” he said with a touch of sarcasm. “If other (Brazilian) players make same 31 points, we make good average (high score).

“U.S. play better defense on Oscar (than in the ’87 upset). But they have to guard other players, too, and when others not shoot well, they (U.S. defenders) get on Oscar.”

And hold him to 31 points.

“I could not do more than I did,” Oscar said. “I hope to try again against the United States. It’s always a pleasure to play against the United States.”

That’s because a team with an outside shooting game, a team such as Brazil, always has a knockout puncher’s chance against a team such as the United States. Getting points 4 at a time, as Oscar did once Wednesday on a bomb and free throw, can cut a lead fast.

The only reliable U.S. bomber is Hersey Hawkins, who hit 1 of 2 long-range shots Wednesday.

U.S. college coaches don’t care much for the gimmicky 3-point shot, and so into world competition the United States sends teams that are a club shy of a full bag.

So far, the shortage hasn’t cost the United States an Olympic gold, but the clock is ticking.