Team USA Routs Its Fan Club

Another one happily bit the dust.

Argentina fell under the wheels of the Dream Team, bowing, 128-87, Wednesday night. The United States (4-0) secured one of the top four spots in the Tournament of the Americas and has qualified for the Barcelona Olympics.

Actually the Argentines put on a good show, seeing as how they would rather have been collecting autographs.

“I played with great happiness against the monsters,” center Hernan Montenegro said. “Wedreamed of playing the 11 monsters. . . . This obviously is the highlight of our careers.”

Other highlights of their careers included:

Michael Jordan throwing down a dunk and the Argentine bench cheering.

Guard Esteban De la Fuente coming to the interview room in a USA Basketball T-shirt.

Forward Sebastian Uranga interrupting himself while shooting free throws to shake hands with Magic Johnson.

“He said, ‘Hey, Magic!’ ” Johnson said, laughing. “It was funny. I think we had a little thing going. They were just having a good time. They’d look to us for approval, like, ‘Good shot?’ I’d say, ‘Yeah, good shot.’

“I must have had my picture taken at halftime with their whole team.

“That guy, No. 9 (guard Marcelo Milanesio) told me, ‘I’ve got to have your jersey, I’ve got to have your jersey.’ I told him I couldn’t give it to him, but he didn’t understand me. So hekept asking for it through the game.

“You never know how popular you are and how you move people in other countries. We must have been doing something right, I guess. That’s what the college players could never bring. People say: ‘The pros shouldn’t be there.’ But that’s what they don’t understand.”

Then there was the game, such as it was.

The United States was down to nine players, Clyde Drexler having taken his sore right knee to the bench to join John Stockton and Larry Bird.

If anyone was wondering if nine Americans could still dominate, the answer was . . .

Yes.

The Argentines got the lead once, 5-3, when Milanesio made a three-pointer, but after that reality set in.

By halftime, the Americans led, 68-37, suggesting a heavy-duty rout was coming.

Instead, the second half turned into garbage time and a mere 41-point margin, the Dream Team’s smallest of the tournament.

“We came out for the kill,” Johnson said. “We got up on them, but manpower-wise, we only had nine bodies. With that many, it’s tough to play all-out and kill them. Plus they can play. That one guy, No. 10 (Juan Espil) has some nice NBA moves. No. 8 (Montenegro) had a tryout with Philadelphia.”

Johnson laughed.

“And one time when Mike did his thing (dunking), their whole bench erupted. How can you go down and play defense against them?”

Milanesio later described his joy at finding out that the American with whom he would be trading gifts before the game was none other than Johnson.

“When we met at center floor, I was very excited that it was No. 15 shaking my hand,” Milanesio said through a translator.

“Without any doubt, not just for Argentina but for everyone playing in this tournament, it is great to play with Michael Jordan, Magic. I am so overwhelmed with joy.”

The American ambassadors of goodwill have tonight off. They will be back to dispense morejoy against the Puerto Rico-Argentina winner in Friday’s semifinals.

Notes

Michael Jordan led the United States with 24 points, eight rebounds and nine assists. . . . Charles Barkley, who called the Canadian game a grudge match and said the United States “won back the canal” against Panama, was asked what this victory meant. “I don’t know,” he said. “Argentina, what are they famous for? Is that where Juan Valdez is from? Oh, that’s Colombia. Well, I don’t know what we won tonight.”

Jordan on the experience this year as opposed to his ’84 Olympic team: “It’s similar in terms of fun, but I didn’t know how to play golf in ’84.” . . . Said Jordan: “We have nine players playing four games straight, so we got a little tired. Plus, I played 36 holes of golf, so I was a little weary.” Clyde Drexler’s sitting out the game also had its impact on Jordan. “I wish Clyde had told me he was going to have a sore knee before I played 36 holes,” Jordan said. . . . Jordan has turned the tournament week into a golfing holiday. “We don’t have a practice (today), so I might play 54 holes.”

Coach Chuck Daly, who has started different lineups in each game, continued to experiment in the second half. He started both of his centers, Patrick Ewing and David Robinson, but theUnited States increased its lead by only nine points, to 100-60 with 10 minutes left.

Larry Bird, asked if he will play next season: “Don’t know. Are you going to be alive when you’re 90? OK, well I am . . . probably on my back.”

In other games, Canada clinched a quarterfinal berth by defeating Panama, 71-62, and unbeaten Brazil scored the most points of the tournament in a 139-93 rout of Uruguay. Canada got 16 points from former Syracuse star Leo Rautins and Panama (1-3) never recovered from a first half during which it shot 31% (nine for 29). Brazil-Uruguay was a matchup of the 10-team field’s top two scorers. Brazil’s Oscar Schmidt, who came in averaging 30 points per game, had 35, and Horacio Lopez, who averaged 31.7 in the opening three games, finished with 41 on16-for-25 shooting. Venezuela defeated Mexico, 88-85, in the late game to advance to the quarterfinals.