WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP INDIANAPOLIS 2002
and Raef LaFrentz) of whom only the Pacers power guard could boast of ever having won anything, gave the impression to those who had seen the previous four versions of being the worst Dream Team yet. They did, however, give the impression of having more than enough power, wellprepared and playing at home, to proclaim themselves world champions. But …
“ Lately we have been treating these tournaments as if they were all-star matches, now we have to do it as if they were the play-offs. If we don ' t play our possessions seriously we ' ll be vulnerable. Of course we are beatable”, warned the coach George Karl, and his pupils were on the same wavelength:“ Nobody wants to be part of the first NBA team to be humiliated. I certainly couldn ' t look the rest of my NBA colleagues in the eye again”.( Ben Wallace)
The fact is that our rivals are starting to increase in stature(“ They can be beaten. I look at them and I don ' t see Jorden or Pippen”, commented Gurovic, and he was backed up by his team mate, Divac,“ We ' ve got the quality to beat them”.) and heavyweights like Barkley were soon calling on patriotism,“ Playing for your country in the first world championship to be held in the United States should be taken at the maximum, and I don ' t know if this is being done”.
LEADERS WITH JUSTIFICATION
Argentina, Spain and Brazil stood out, along with the Americans, as the only unbeaten teams from the first phase.
Argentina, with eight players from the Spanish league, kept the successful team from the previous season( winners of the Pan-American and South American games and a winning run that would eventually reach 26 matches and would last until their defeat against Spain in the Goodwill Games against Shawn Marion, Baron Davis, Andre Miller, Jermaine, O ' Neal, all present in this tournament, Wally Szczerbiak and Shane Batter amongst others in Brisbane) with the exception of the change of Alejandro Montecchia for Daniel Farabello, and the coach Magnano had blended his team together perfectly.“ The majority of our players combine talent with enriching experience, either in Europe or in the NBA. I, as their coach, only have to make sure that they follow instructions to the letter and play as a team”. That, without a shadow of doubt, is exactly what happened, he put his players onto the court and they successively beat Venezuela(+ 35), Russia(+ 19) and New Zealand(+ 17).“ Only the USA and Yugoslavia can beat us”, boasted Manu Ginobili, and as we will see he was absolutely correct.
In the same way Spain was also set to make history, despite the problems they had suffered in August( a further serious knee injury to Raul Lopez and the inability of Pau Gasol to take part in any of the friendly matches due to various muscle pains). Not for beating Canada( without their NBA players Steve Nash, Todd MacCullough, or Jamaal Magloire, they bore no relation to the dangerous team of Sydney 2000 and only beginners ' nerves on their debut11-13, temporarily postponed an easy victory: 85-54) or Angola( 88-55 in revenge for what had happened 10 years previously in the Barcelona Olympic Games) but for having beaten Yugoslavia, whom they hadn ' t beaten since Los Angeles ' 84. Among the entire expedition only the coaches( Javier Imbroda, with long hair and in the second division team Maristas, Moncho Lopez, then an unremarkable forward with the Santiago Apostle School in Ferrol) could remember that momentous event with any clarity. This explained the words of Vlade Divac the day before the game.“ They won ' t even beat us with ten Gasols”.“ Well one was enough”, said Gasol himself later after scoring 25 points and being, together with Navarro, the architect of Yugoslavia ' s defeat. Although they managed to fight back from a 19 point deficit( Spain only won the first quarter), they lost the leadership of Group A. In the same manner Group B belonged to Brazil with a 3-0 balance. Their forwards( Machado, Klafke and Giovannoni) rotated in such a way that the team did not miss Hilario( only 19 years old
246 FUNDACIÓN PEDRO FERRÁNDIZ