U.S. Ready for Back-to-Back Exhibitions

If Tim Duncan and Oscar Schmidt were on the same team, maybe they’d have the slightest of chances against the Olympic men’s basketball team.

Instead, they will likely take their beatings 24 hours apart.

The Olympians will play the U.S. junior team, led Duncan of Wake Forest, today at Auburn Hills, Mich., before traveling to Cleveland for an exhibition game Sunday against Brazil, led by the high-scoring Schmidt, 38. The junior team will also include Toby Bailey of UCLA and Brevin Knight of Stanford.

Schmidt was the leading scorer at the Barcelona Olympics and led his country to a victory over the United States at the 1987 Pan American Games.

“We’re tired of beating up each other, we want to beat somebody else up for a change,” Karl Malone said after a five-day training camp in Chicago that ended with a 40-minute scrimmage.

The “blue” team, led by Shaquille O’Neal, beat the “white” team, led by Charles Barkley, 62-45.

“One team played extremely well, Shaquille’s team,” Coach Lenny Wilkens said.

“Put it this way, I was four for four from the line today,” O’Neal said.

The winning team included Reggie Miller, Malone, Penny Hardaway, Scottie Pippen and John Stockton. The losing side featured Hakeem Olajuwon, Barkley, David Robinson, Mitch Richmond, Gary Payton and Grant Hill.

“I think I have a good feel for the players now, and that really helps,” Wilkens said. “As we go through the exhibitions, we’ll try different combinations.”