BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS / DAY 14 : One More Act for Pro Show : Basketball: U.S. men need to beat Croatia again to win gold medal. NBA participation in tournament is lauded.

With twilight falling on its brief existence, the Dream Team packs today for a fast getaway home, or in case of the unthinkable, to any tropical isle that will grant it asylum.

The Americans have only to dispatch Croatia again--they won a previous meeting by 33 points--to claim the Olympic gold medal in men’s basketball.

Like the rest of their opponents, the Croatians aren’t worried.

Someone asked Toni Kukoc what had to happen for Croatia to win.

“Joke,” Kukoc said, grinning.

The U.S. team’s legacy remains to be seen but, controversy notwithstanding, seems overwhelmingly positive.

More than just a victory for the United States, the NBA’s Olympic debut is viewed in international basketball as a triumph for the game itself, which is now widely seen as knocking on soccer’s door.

Even old foes in the international community now endorse NBA participation, starting with its most stubborn adversary:

The United States.

Four years ago, Boris Stankovic, the Serbian secretary-general of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), ramrodded through a 57-13 vote to invite NBA players.

The balloting was secret, but the United States and the Soviet Union announced that they had voted no, presumably along with the Eastern Bloc.

“Upon instruction from the board of directors, I voted no,” said Dave Gavitt, president of the U.S. federation, USA Basketball, known at the time as ABA USA.

“ABA USA was then made up of the NCAA, the junior colleges, the AAU, the NAIA. They basically weren’t in favor of it. It put them in affiliation with professionals. None of them ever had been or wanted to be.”

Gavitt, the man of many titles, had been an Olympic coach--in 1980, of the team grounded by the U.S. boycott--was then Big East commissioner and is now vice president of the Boston Celtics.

How did he feel about letting the pros in 1988?

“My personal feeling was probably like a lot of people,” Gavitt said. “The Olympics had been traditionally for college players over the years.”

How does he feel now?

“I think now we’ll look back on Dr. Stankovic’s vision to open the Olympic Games as being the historical springboard to making the game grow worldwide. It was his vision that the game could not become the No. 1 game in the world without the best players in it.”

The switch to NBA players was expected to be popular, but the actual splash surprised everyone.

USA Basketball, now reconstituted with NBA-granted voting power equal to the NCAA’s, was obliged to spend more than $1 million to buy the rights to the American Zone qualifying tournament, which had been set for South America, because the dates were in conflict with the NBA schedule.

It was moved to Portland, Ore., and was rescheduled for late June.

In the absence of network interest, USA Basketball was obliged to buy time on NBC and TNT.

Ratings for the tournament opener, the 79-point victory over Cuba, were stunning--comparable to Game 7 of that spring’s New York Knicks-Chicago Bulls playoff series.

Remarkably, the ratings didn’t fall during the U.S. rout. When the game against Canada the next night wasn’t televised, complaining callers heated up newspaper switchboards.

Only then did Americans begin to grasp that this was the start of something huge.

“It’s bigger than I thought,” Gavitt said, “and I’ve been sitting on this for 3 1/2-4 years.

“I thought we’d get a good response from the players, but I didn’t think we’d get everybody we wanted. The fact we got everybody we wanted startled me.

“Then what happened in Portland and here, the rock-group idolatry, is a bit of a shock to all of us.”

The other reluctant superpower, the Soviet Union, no longer exists.

Valentin Stych, once head of the Soviet basketball federation, now heads the Russian federation but is serving out the end of his term.

Through an interpreter--Alexander Gomelsky, former Soviet coach now living in San Diego--Stych said he now approves of NBA participation.

“Is good contact and communication,” said Gomelsky, speaking for himself. “American players, nice teachers.

“We come to U.S. many times. Lose every game but go home, study, study, study. This is how we progress. This my view, not his (Stych’s). He know nothing about basketball.”

Stankovic, once a Yugoslav player, coach and head of the national federation, is a retired veterinarian. His stance mirrors Gomelsky’s, which is how the U.S. pros got here.

“I came to the conclusion we needed new blood in our competitions,” Stankovic said. “All our competitions the last 10 years, always the same. Same players, same kind of game, same skills.

“I am so happy. This is not only Dream Team. For me, I see the realization of a dream for FIBA and myself.

“These are really the best athletes in the world. I think they could be the best athletes in many sports. It is nice to watch them and see this ability.”

Despite suggestions by LeRoy Walker, the U.S. Olympic Committee’s president-designate, that he isn’t keen on NBA participation, Stankovic figures to see this ability again in four years. Gavitt said selection policy is the constitutional responsibility of the national federation, USA Basketball.

Until the earth moves again, it’s a pro show.