The Dream Team this time was from Puerto Rico, not the NBA.
At least two-thirds of the crowd of 8,617 at Madison Square Garden on Sunday was rooting for an experienced Puerto Rican team over a group of U.S. college players, who led by 19 points early in the second half before falling 84-76 in the Goodwill Games."We were expecting the fan support," said Jose Ortiz, a former Utah Jazz player who scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half. "There is a great Puerto Rican community in New York."
Ortiz, 34; Jerome Mincy, 33; and Eddie Casiano, 25, are the nucleus of a Puerto Rican team that has played together internationally for the entire decade. The U.S. college players were in junior high school when the bulk of Puerto Rico's team started playing together, and the Americans came together as a team only last week.
"Even though they're young players, they had the weapons to beat us," Ortiz said, "but we played well in the second half."
Casiano scored 26 of his 31 points after halftime for Puerto Rico, which trailed 55-36 with 151/2 minutes left, then outscored the Americans 48-21 the rest of the way.
"In the second half, our defense came together and we got the ball to Casiano and Jose," Puerto Rico coach Carlos Morales said.
Casiano, 4-for-5 from 3-point range and 10-for-16 from the field overall, said it was "the biggest mistake of my life that I didn't come to the United States" to play college basketball in 1992. Instead, he forfeited his eligibility to play in a pro league in Puerto Rico that folded after one year.
Elton Brand of Duke was the only consistent performer for the United States, scoring 24 points. The only other U.S. player in double figures was Wally Szczerbiak of Miami-Ohio, who scored 12 points but only two in the second half.
"This is a higher level of basketball than I'm used to," Brand said. "We did our best. We have to bounce back and finish strong."
The United States plays China on Monday night, while Puerto Rico faces Brazil in the round-robin tournament.
Andre Miller of Utah and Khalid El-Amin of Connecticut were repeatedly thwarted on drives to the basket in the second half as Puerto Rico tightened its inside defense, then let Casiano lead the way offensively.
"Without a doubt, experience was the deciding factor," U.S. coach Clem Haskins said. "They've got guys who have been together a long time. That really proved out in the second half."
Miller, who led Utah to the Final Four this year, was 1-for-9 from the field, and El-Amin was 2-for-8.
"Puerto Rico knew how to make you do what you didn't want to do," Szczerbiak said.