With almost 44 points on average over a tournament ended with 8 wins and 0 losses, the “Dream Team” has revolutionized basketball. Chuck Daly, the American coach, will not even have had to call the slightest time-out during these Olympic Games in Barcelona… Already beaten in pool with 33 points in the bag, Croatia will have been the only team (along with Puerto Rico) to limit the gap below 40 units. Relegated to 32 units in the final (117-85), the Croats will even have achieved the best score against what will remain as the greatest basketball team of all time on the international scene.
The “Dream Team” of 92 is still the trifle of 23 NBA titles, 15 MVP trophies and no less than 117 caps at the NBA All-Star Game… Figures that make you dizzy.
“It was like Elvis and the Beatles together”will say Chuck Daly, quoted in The Guardian. “Travelling with the Dream Team was like traveling with twelve rock stars. This is the only point of comparison that we can find. »
However, on the eve of the gold medal match, Chuck Daly had chosen to show the Americans’ lost match in Munich in 1972. Just to put things in perspective…
The players do not believe their eyes in the face of the incompetence of the referees, and of the officials in general, who give three seconds to the USSR, who will win in the snatch. They are obviously crying foul. But that was the intended goal.
“We want to bring the gold medal back to where it should be. Where she always should have been”launched Charles Barkley even before the start of the Barcelona tournament.
Real rock stars!
For their part, Michael Jordan and the players prepared this final in their own way, between relaxation and heightened competitiveness. In other words, with frenzied card games until the heart of the night. And even a quick shoot for Air Time, an NBA Entertainment video. Hence the myth (verified) of a Jordan who hadn’t slept the night before the final… Mental fatigue… but not physical!
Before the match, the tone was already set as the Croatian bus was gently pulled over to let the “Dream Team” pass. When he arrives at the hall, while his Celtics teammate, Larry Bird, is already warming up, Stojko Vrankovic is pissed. ” What was that ? You can’t even share the road with others?! »
Laughing, Larry Bird will reply that it was not his responsibility. Indeed, the American team was constantly surrounded by bodyguards and security cars on all its trips. In fact, only John Stockton could play the tourist without being recognized on the ramblas of the city!
Croatia lead…
In between, Charles Barkley is on the bench while it is Karl Malone who supports Patrick Ewing in the racket. The rear traction Magic – Jordan – Pippen being faithful to the positions. The match has trouble starting for the Americans who open hostilities with a basket from far from Jordan.
It will take a good big tap dunk from Patrick Ewing on a misfire from Magic to really start the American machine. Although… The Croats defend themselves well and even manage to lead to the score: 25-23. As Jack McCallum will explain in his reference work, the “Dream Team” is then tired of being in Barcelona.
Mental fatigue… but not necessarily physical. The natural effectively takes over at the end of the first half with the American beasts who tighten their grip defensively, to better let go of the horses on the transition.
Charles Barkley rushes headlong and will return 7 of his 8 shots while Michael Jordan gradually takes control of the match, notably returning a shot backwards, in two stages, of which he has the secret. Despite 24 points from Drazen Petrovic and 16 for Toni Kukoc (who will then earn the respect of Michael Jordan, his future teammate at the Bulls), Croatia can do nothing against the surging American waves.
… and the Dream Team gets angry!
Chuck Daly’s rotation crushes the Croatian substitutes with his licked passing game and a ball that flies from hand to hand to finish in the circle, from the arc with Chris Mullin or Magic Johnson or closer: squarely at the dunk, with Charles Barkley or David Robinson.
Already long since reestablished at this tournament in Barcelona, American superiority is dazzling on FIBA’s biggest stage, the final of the Olympic Games. 117-85: mass is said, the “Dream Team” is sacred! ” [Nos adversaires] knew they were playing against the best in the world”will later say Chuck Daly, quoted in “The Life” by Roland Lazenby. “They’re going to go home and for the rest of their lives they can say to their kids, ‘I played Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.’ And the more they play against our best players, the more confidence they gain. »
Already predicting the future, and the continued progression of world basketball to the present day, Chuck Daly certainly did not think that the successors of his dream team would be undermined again only ten years later, in 2002, sad sixth in Indianapolis Worlds. Then again in 2004, at the Olympic Games in Athens…
But on this evening of August 8, 1992, everything seems perfect in the world of the orange ball. The natural order of things has been restored. When the American players receive their charm one by one, all having decided to hide (more or less) discreetly the Reebok logo on their tracksuit, the smiles are not faked.
Magic Johnson clenches his fist and waves the stars and stripes high. He takes Charles Barkley in his arms next to him. The “Dream Team” did the job! “We were able to do what everyone expected of us”concludes Michael Jordan after the final. “Now we can be proud of our basketball team again. »
And not just a little… For eternity, just that!
The highlights of the final
Read also :
30 years of the Dream Team: the intensity of the preparation camp
30 years of the Dream Team: the first official match
The highlights of Michael Jordan in Barcelona
The “play by play” from Jack McCallum’s book (part 1)
The “play by play” from Jack McCallum’s book (part 2)
