THE SEOUL GAMES / DAY 7 : Like Bull in a China Shop, U.S. Men Romp, 108-57

In what may have been the second-greatest mismatch of all time, the U.S. men dispatched the Chinese men’s basketball team in a thunderclap you could hear in Beijing.

The United States hit 13 of its first 21 shots Friday and rebounded 6 of the misses, and the Chinese didn’t get their second defensive rebound until the game was 7:25 old, by which time the United States was ahead, 27-9, en route to its 108-57 victory.

The greatest mismatch of all time?

That might be Saturday, when the United States plays Egypt. China beat Egypt by 14 points.

Coach John Thompson was so happy, he only snarled a little in his postgame address to his team.

“It wasn’t real bad,” Hersey Hawkins said. “He didn’t yell. I guess, if he doesn’t yell, it can’t be too bad.”

But didn’t the Americans feel for the little guys?

“Feel for ‘em?” asked Thompson, grinning. “Never entered my mind.

“I didn’t schedule this.”

Who did?

The Chinese were Asian champions, but Asiaball has a way to go. Against a front line of 7-0 David Robinson and 6-9 Danny Manning, the Chinese sent out a lineup whose tallest player was 6-7 Wang Libin. Robinson--surprise!--won the center jump from Wang and tipped it to Dan Majerle, who hit an unopposed layup :06 into the game, ending the suspense for the day.

The Chinese actually have one quality player, 6-9 Sung Tao, who has been drafted by the Atlanta Hawks. However, Sung has a knee injury and can only watch in his Hawks T-shirt here.

He said it was painful watching, too. When Bill Wall, head of the U.S. basketball federation, walked by, Sung observed through an interpreter that he was a “showoff who wants always to win.”

By halftime, it was 59-26. Figuring that the Chinese were just trying to cut the margin from last time--the Americans beat them by 48 in ’84 in Los Angeles--there was still a competitive aspect to the game, at least until the second half.

The U.S. lead hit 50 late in the second half, and the Americans kept playing hard. This is supposed to be the way one avoids getting hurt, but Hawkins ran into Jeff Grayer and limped off. Then Willie Anderson tried to take it in alone on a 2-1 fast break, was undercut, and limped off, too. Thompson said no one was hurt too badly and all would attend practice--a few hours after the game.

The Chinese? They finished, anyway.

“China never think they can beat U.S.,” said Xu Jicheng of the Chinese wire service, New China News. “They want only to cut the margin from the last game.

“Tell your players not to play so hard against China.”

Never happen. See you in 4 years.