Puerto Rico beat the United States ‘Dream Team’ basketballers 92-73 here Sunday in one of the biggest shocks in the history of the Olympic Games.
NBA superstars Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson and LeBron James were humiliated by a team they had beaten 96-71 just over two weeks ago in Florida. It was the first defeat in 25 games for the United States since NBA talent including Michael Jordan began playing for them in Olympic competition at the 1992 Barcelona Games. Puerto Rican guard Carlos Arroyo (24 points), who plays for the Utah Jazz in the NBA, hurt the Americans, whether pulling off flashy layups or stripping the ball from Duncan to score an easy two points.
Spain’s Pau Gasol got the better of China’s Yao Ming in Olympic basketball’s own clash of the giants yesterday.
Gasol, 2.13 meters (7ft), led Spain to an 83-58 win over China in a Group A match-up featuring two of the NBA’s top international players. Gasol poured in 21 points as he and the 2.29 meters (7ft 6ins) Yao, an NBA starting All-Star and the tallest man in Olympic history, traded baskets, assists, rebounds and elbows.
Left with a bloody nose at one end of the court in the first half, Gasol re-entered the game and put down an emphatic two-handed dunk in Yao’s face as the two jostled all night for position before the Chinese centre fouled out halfway through the final period after scoring 12 points.
In other games on the first day of play in the men’s competition, Italy edged out New Zealand 71-69 and Lithuania overcame a dreadful first half to beat Angola 78-73. New Zealand whittled a nine point Italian lead down to two points in the last two and a half minutes of play, but Phillip Jones turned the ball over with a chance to tie the score in the dying seconds, allowing Italy to escape with a victory.
