BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS / DAY 9 : U.S. Trounces Spain, but It Needs Practice : Men’s basketball: Team goes through the motions during 122-81 victory over host.

In the Dream Team’s heyday, Coach Chuck Daly and Michael Jordan planned to take a helicopter 90 miles to a golf course because the local courses were full.

Those days are over for the moment.

For the U.S. men’s basketball team, Sunday’s game wasn’t the unthinkable, but it was the unpalatable. They routed Spain, 122-81, to finish the first round 5-0 but did so in minimally awesome fashion.

The Spaniards, 1-5 and out of their own tournament, actually outscored the U.S. team, 25-15, to start the second half.

For these and other reasons, Daly called a practice for today, his first since their opening game.

Magic Johnson, returning to action along with John Stockton, says the idea came from a player--him.

“They (teammates) know I said it,” Johnson said. “I said it in front of them. I hold back nothing.

“When we weren’t practicing well (at camp in San Diego), I said something. That’s my job. We need practice. We were there, but not quite where we were.

“We’re here to win the gold medal, and the only way we can do that is maintain what we have and had. Even though guys have been going to the club to work out, it’s not the same as being together.”

Actually, they could probably win the gold medal any way they please. Final scores notwithstanding, they have flattened out, unchallenged by the competition, frustrated by teams that have gone completely to zone defenses.

Said Charles Barkley: “Guys are ready to get it done and go home. It’s been a long process, and it’s time to get it over with.”

For Spain, it was already over.

Spain and Italy are the two great European basketball hotbeds, but Spaniards have watched in dismay as their fortunes plummeted.

After being silver medalists in Los Angeles in 1984, when the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia boycotted the Games, they were eighth at Seoul in 1988. They were upset in their opener here by Germany, then stunned in a 20-point loss to Angola.

El Periodico, a local paper, called the Angola loss “A National Shame” in one headline and said in another: “Angola Conducts National Team to Hell.”

The first question Coach Antonio Diaz Miguel was asked was: “Do you intend to resign?”

Diaz Miguel, coach of the national team for 27 years and once wildly popular, is not expected back. His contract is running out, and the Spanish federation isn’t expected to offer him another.

U.S. officials, fond of him, did what they could to demonstrate their respect. They asked the Spanish team to pose with them for a picture before the game, rather than the other way around, and had publicists inform the media. Johnson went over before the game and shook the Spanish coach’s hand. Daly posed for the picture with his arm around his shoulder.

“I appreciate the remarks made by the U.S. coaches,” Diaz Miguel said after the game, “but I would like to stress what I said after the game against Angola: I don’t feel guilty. I share in the guilt, as does the Spanish sporting organization. Everybody should decide what percentage of the responsibility falls to them.”

Basketball Notes

The United States will play Puerto Rico, which it beat by 38 points in the qualifying tournament at Portland, in Tuesday’s quarterfinals. . . . Brazil scored an 85-76 victory over Germany. In other games Sunday, Lithuania beat Australia, 98-82, Puerto Rico defeated the CIS, 82-70; Croatia beat Angola, 73-64, and Venezuela turned back China, 96-88.