BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS / DAY 7 : Amused U.S. Puts Brazil in Its Place : Men’s basketball: Led by Barkley with 30 points, Dream Team uses lingering wisecrack as motivational ploy in 127-83 laugher.

As national insults go, the one the United States recently endured at the hands of Brazil falls short of the British burning of Washington.

On the other hand, it was the best insult the Dream Team could come up with, so it made do.

Challenged in Portland, Ore., by Brazil’s irrepressible Marcel Souza to quit playing golf and get serious, the U.S. players plotted the Brazilians’ downfall for a month. The schedule finally delivered up their lambs Friday, and the Americans barbecued them, 127-83.

Souza was only having fun and went up to Magic Johnson a few days later to explain.

How do you say too late in Portuguese?

“He did come up to me and say he didn’t mean to insult our guys,” Johnson said, smiling.

“It’s just--if you’re going to say something, you’ve got to back it up. One thing we learn in America, if you say something, back it up.

“If we said something about the other teams, they’d use it against us. We’re just like other teams. We’re human. We need motivation.”

They got more than they needed.

Souza made his remarks at a late-night postgame news conference in the Tournament of the Americas. By the end of the week, U.S. players were under the misimpression that they had been called out, and not by Souza, who was once a Brazilian star but is now a 35-year-old second-stringer, but by the team’s star, Oscar Schmidt.

“I may not sleep tonight,” Charles Barkley sneered.

Barkley also called Schmidt “a pretty good player--for over there.”

“I’ve been thinking about Oscar all week. In the middle of my backswing, I think, ‘Oscar, Oscar,’ ” he said.

The teams were supposed to meet in the Tournament of the Americas, but the Brazilians were upset in the semifinals.

Barkley then accused them of losing deliberately so they wouldn’t have to play the United States until the Olympics.

Three weeks later the Americans were still talking about avenging this slight, even though they weren’t tack sharp on what the slight was.

“Somebody gave me wrong information,” Karl Malone said Thursday. “I’ve been telling everybody Oscar said it.

“At this point it really doesn’t matter who said it,” he added, laughing. “We’re going to act like they all said it.”

Even if the Americans hadn’t been able to think of one thing they disliked, Brazil wouldn’t exactly have been the betting favorite.

However, there are two things the Brazilians excel at: shooting and staying loose. Late in the first half, they were within 13 points. After that, reality set in.

Reality on Friday was Barkley, who converted a series of layups, offensive rebounds and even a three-point shot en route to a 30-point, eight-rebound game.

Barkley also instructed the officials in their duties, prompting the crowd to whistle in derision once more. But after one basket, he extended his arms to the crowd, which sprang to its feet, cheering him.

“Charles has calmed himself down,” Johnson said. “He’s just concentrating on playing the game. And when he does that, he’s one of the greats of the game.”

The Brazilians took their licking as happily as everyone else.

“If I play them again, I won’t go inside,” Schmidt said. “They block five of my shots. It’s easier to shoot outside. Not difficult like inside, where it hurts. I love them. They are my idols.”

At Portland, Schmidt and Souza asked for copies of Larry Bird’s book.

When Bird also wrote inscriptions, they were enchanted.

To Schmidt, Bird wrote: “I want you one on one in French Lick.”

To Souza, who helped pull off the Pan American Games upset of the United States in Indianapolis in 1987, Bird wrote: “You’re lucky I wasn’t in Indianapolis.”

Spain is next.

Didn’t Spain once lay claim to Florida?

Basketball Notes

Sounding more like a secretary of state on a mission to the Middle East than the president of USA Basketball, Dave Gavitt said before the game that talks aimed at resolving the Michael Jordan-USOC, Reebok-Nike impasse continue. . . . Jordan did not attend the postgame interview, the first time a U.S. player has missed. . . . Magic Johnson sat out his second game but plans to return Sunday against Spain. “I wanted to play tonight,” Johnson said, “but our doctor said no.” . . . Scottie Pippen, asked how many years it will take foreign teams to catch up: “A hundred. A lifetime. Never. We can still pick 10 more teams to come over here and do this.”