ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, July 27, 1996                TAG: 9607290053
SECTION: SPORTS                   PAGE: SPORTS EDITION: METRO 

DREAM TEAM ROLLS |ASSOCIATED PRESS| ATLANTA - A WEEK AFTER GETTING TO ATLANTA, THE DREAM TEAM FINALLY ARRIVED AT THE 1996 OLYMPICS. AFTER THREE UNDERWHELMING PERFORMANCES, THE COLLECTION OF NBA STARS SHOWED UP EMPHATICALLY FRIDAY NIGHT, SETTING A RECORD FOR MOST POINTS BY THE UNITED STATES IN AN OLYMPIC GAME. IN A RUN-AND-GUN DUNKFEST, THE U.S. TEAM TROUNCED CHINA 133-70. (BOX SCORE IN OLYMPIC SCOREBOARD. B3) THE AMERICANS BROKE THE RECORD OF 127 POINTS REACHED TWICE IN 1992 BY THE ORIGINAL DREAM TEAM. THE OVERALL RECORD IS 133 BY BRAZIL AGAINST EGYPT IN 1988. THIS DREAM TEAM DID AS IT PLEASED FOR THE ENTIRE 40 MINUTES, PULLING AWAY IN THE FIRST HALF BEHIND THE OUTSIDE SHOOTING OF REGGIE MILLER AND THE ALL-AROUND PLAY OF SCOTTIE PIPPEN. IT WAS EASILY THE DREAM TEAM'S BEST GAME SO FAR, AND IT WOKE UP A HOME CROWD THAT HAD BEEN ALMOST LIFELESS IN THE FIRST THREE GAMES OF THE TOURNAMENT, ALL RELATIVELY UNIMPRESSIVE VICTORIES, THOUGH BY AN AVERAGE OF NEARLY 28 POINTS. THE CROWD, ANNOUNCED AS AN OLYMPIC RECORD 34,417, GAVE THE DREAM TEAM ITS BIGGEST ROUND OF APPLAUSE EARLY IN THE SECOND HALF WHEN CHARLES BARKLEY SPELLED OUT THE LETTERS Y-M-C-A WHILE THE VILLAGE PEOPLE SONG PLAYED DURING A TIMEOUT. IT WAS FOLLOWED BY CHANTS OF ``WE WANT BARKLEY'' AND ``U-S-A,'' BUT THE CROWD NEVER GOT ITS WISH AS BARKLEY BECAME THE FIRST U.S. PLAYER TO SIT OUT AN ENTIRE GAME. THE UNITED STATES MORE THAN DOUBLED ITS AVERAGE MARGIN OF VICTORY FROM THE FIRST THREE GAMES. MILLER SET A U.S. TEAM RECORD BY MAKING FIVE 3-POINTERS AND PIPPEN HAD FOUR. THE PREVIOUS RECORD WAS THREE, SET SEVERAL TIMES THE RECORD OF 127 POINTS WAS TIED WITH 2:47 LEFT ON A BASKET BY MITCH RICHMOND. IT FELL 19 SECONDS LATER WHEN GRANT HILL BANKED THE BALL IN OFF THE GLASS AFTER A NICE LOB PASS BY JOHN STOCKTON. PIPPEN FINISHED WITH 24 POINTS, THE MOST BY A DREAM TEAMER IN THE TOURNAMENT, AND HILL HAD 19. SHAQUILLE O'NEAL HAD 13 POINTS AND 10 REBOUNDS AND ANFERNEE HARDAWAY HAD 15 POINTS AND 10 ASSISTS. FINALLY, THE AMERICANS FACED A TEAM UNAFRAID TO PLAY AN UPTEMPO STYLE. AND CHINA PLAYED RIGHT INTO THE HANDS OF THE DREAM TEAM, WHICH PREVIOUSLY WAS FRUSTRATED BY THE SLOWDOWN PACE OF ITS OPPONENTS. THE ROUT WAS ON JUST A FEW MINUTES IN AS PIPPEN AND KARL MALONE SCORED THE FIRST 14 POINTS FOR THE U.S. TEAM, MOST OF THEM ON FASTBREAKS. BY THE TIME PIPPEN AND O'NEAL WENT TO THE BENCH FOR THE FIRST TIME WITH 8:49 LEFT IN THE HALF, THE DREAM TEAM WAS AHEAD 36-19. THE RESERVES, LED BY HARDAWAY, HILL AND DAVID ROBINSON, STAGED A 15-0 RUN MINUTES LATER THAT BUMPED THE LEAD TO 57-26. THE LEAD GREW TO 37 AT THE HALF, 65-38. THE SECOND HALF INCLUDED AN EARLY RUN OF 32-14 AS THE U.S. TEAM OPENED A 60-POINT LEAD, 105-45, LOOKING LIKE IT WOULD THREATEN THE ORIGINAL DREAM TEAM'S RECORD OF A 68-POINT MARGIN OVER ANGOLA. INSTEAD, THE AMERICANS HAD TO SETTLE FOR THE HIGHEST POINT TOTAL.

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