BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS / DAY 15 : They Enjoyed the Inevitable : Basketball: Johnson advises keeping the pros coming after U.S. ends its gold-medal quest with a 117-85 victory.

Meet the new world order, same as the old world order.

In basketball, at least, the Earth is still something for the United States to twirl on its fingertip. The Dream Team asserted American domination Saturday night, brushing aside Croatia, 117-85, to claim the gold medals that had been all but engraved with the players’ names.

“You will see another team of professionals,” said Coach Chuck Daly, “but I don’t think you’ll see another team like this.

“This team has a mystique and a quality that’s been built over 15 years--Magic (Johnson) and (Larry) Bird and now (Michael) Jordan. The next team, if they do go back to the professionals, will be people who will be relatively unknown. They’ll be known to a point, but not particularly like this team.”

Daly was sitting in the interview room, alongside the famous trio, two of whom are at a crossroads.

Was Bird through?

“Yes, it is my last game tonight. . . ,” Bird said, as the air seemed to leave the room. “Tomorrow, we don’t know. I’ll let you know in two-three weeks.”

Was Johnson through?

Concluding an interview with NBC’s Mike Fratello, he told Laker fans to “hold on” but was noncommittal in the interview room.

He will let us know in two or three weeks, too.

These teams already had met, or been introduced, with the United States winning by 33 points and holding Toni Kukoc, Europe’s greatest star, to four.

Showing how valuable experience is, Croatia Coach Petar Skansi slowed the rematch down, with good results.

Sure enough, robbed of the joy of running up and down the court, the Americans fizzled.

With the pace reduced to something they could keep up with, the Croatians went on an 18-9 run to take a 25-23 lead with 9:44 to play in the first half.

Before you could say “window of vulnerability,” Charles Barkley hit a three-point shot and the United States was ahead again to stay. If Barkley, a bad-but-willing outside shooter, hits three-point shots, someone is in trouble, and in this tournament, he went seven for eight, the best mark on the team.

The United States was ahead by 18 points before halftime, and after that it was simply a matter of the final score.

“If you send those college guys (to the Olympics), it’s going to be a problem,” Johnson said. “You better believe these guys can play. I’m telling you that now.

“All the people complaining better look over at Croatia and Lithuania. You send that college team and it’s going to be a problem, that’s for real.”

Thus ended three of the most remarkable weeks in the lives of the American players.

They marveled at Monte Carlo, were mobbed here by adoring fans but criticized by USOC president-designate LeRoy Walker, who said he wasn’t sold on having the pros back.

Johnson called that “the down-est” part of the experience.

“We didn’t have a squabble,” Johnson said. “They had a squabble.

“The whole thing is, they should have treated us like men. Come talk to us, and we could resolve the whole thing. Instead, he wants to be the big shot. He wants to be the big man and say, ‘You better do this or we won’t have them back.’

“We won the gold medal. Whatever they want to do after tonight, God bless ‘em. We’re out of their hair.”

He said he definitely would recommend the experience to any player, though.

“The feeling (on the victory stand) was just tremendous,” Johnson said. “It was the most awesome feeling I ever had for winning anything, especially when the national anthem was played. Goose bumps came all over my body.”

John Stockton had the honor of dribbling out the clock.

A Croatian guard yelled at him not to shoot.

Stockton said he told him, “Don’t worry, pal.”

When the game ended, the referee asked for the ball, but Stockton wouldn’t give it up. He said he was taking it home.

At 11:53 p.m. Spanish Daylight Time, the U.S. players, having accepted their medals, paraded out of the arena, returned and regrouped at center court, broke their hands and the Dream Team was no more.

How long will it be before there’s another one as good?

“We all won’t be around,” Johnson said. “You guys won’t be around. Neither will we.

“If there is, though, we’d like to play ‘em.”

Notes

The Dream Team won its games by an average of 44 points, second highest in Olympic history to Bill Russell’s 1956 team, which won its games by an average of 52. . . . The 1960 Jerry West-Oscar Robertson team and the 1984 Patrick Ewing-Michael Jordan teams had victory margins of 42 and 32 points, respectively. . . . The U.S. players took the victory stand with their USOC-mandated Reebok warm-ups peeled back to hide the logo. Jordan, Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley also draped American flags over their shoulders.