Undefeated vs. undefeated. A rematch of the last loss by a U.S. Olympic men's basketball team. Vlade vs. Shaq.
Any angle is a good one, but it all boils down to one thing: The Dream Team is in the gold medal game against Yugoslavia, and it will be a national disgrace if it doesn't win.The matchup for the championship game was set Thursday night as the United States beat Australia 101-73 after Yugoslavia beat Lithuania 66-58.
The gold medal game is Saturday night, and the U.S. team will go into it with a 100-2 career Olympic record.
"Everybody has been looking toward them for a long time," John Stockton said. "It'll be fun. They're a very good team and we're looking forward to that game."
Australia stayed closer to the Dream Team than expected, but Charles Barkley made the difference with his usual infusion of energy.
Barkley scored 24 points, shot 7-for-7 from the field and added 11 rebounds in the best all-around game any of the Dream Teamers have had in the tournament.
"They pushed us. I think they believed they could win, but we have the bench and the toughness. I think they just ran out of gas," Barkley said.
The Dream Team had its worst shooting performance of the Olympics, and take away Barkley's perfect night from the field and the team's shooting percentage would have been worse than it ended up (47 percent).
Barkley scored nine straight points for the United States at the critical juncture when they turned it from a close game into a sure thing. He received a standing ovation when he left with 51/2 minutes left.
"When Charles came back in the game at about the 13-minute mark, he certainly had the most profound influence of any of the players out there," Aussie forward Andrew Vlahov said. "We couldn't contain him, and that's when the gap went from 13 to 16 to 18 real quickly. His ability and tenaciousness we couldn't match."
The final 28-point deficit made it seem like another blowout, but the Americans led by just 13 with a little more than 10 minutes remaining.
Former Seton Hall star Andrew Gaze kept the game close early, scoring 21 of his 25 points in the first half. Point guard Shane Heal had four 3-pointers and 19 points, and he revealed after the game that he will get a tryout with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Heal, who was involved in an altercation with Barkley during a July 12 exhibition game, had to deal with Gary Payton's mouth this time. Payton, who was in the starting lineup spent much of the night scowling and trash-talking at Heal, shot just 2-for-11 from the field.
Anfernee Hardaway, David Robinson and Shaquille O'Neal finished with 14 points each.