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The Dream Becomes Reality, 95-69

ATLANTA, Aug. 3—David Robinson had been through these gut-wrenching experiences before. He played for the United States in the 1987 Pan American Games, when Brazil’s Oscar Schmidt shot down the Americans in the gold medal game. And he played on the 1988 Olympic team that lost to the Soviet Union in the semifinals.

Those two games played pivotal roles in the creation of the Dream Teams, American squads loaded with NBA all-stars and sent into battle with orders to return with nothing short of a gold medal. They were considered the surest thing in these Olympics, and even Yugoslav center Vlade Divac said beforehand that the Americans had a "99.9 percent" chance of winning their gold medal game tonight.

For 28 minutes, that tenth of one percent loomed large. Yugoslavia played right with the Dream Team, until Robinson helped to prevent what would have been the Americans’ most embarrassing Olympic defeat.

With 13 minutes remaining in the game and Yugoslavia staying stubbornly within two points, Robinson scored the Dream Team’s next eight points to give the Americans some breathing room and push them to a 95-69 victory. He finished with 28 points, making him the highest-scoring Olympian in United States history.

His 270 points surpassed Michael Jordan’s career record of 256.

The gold medal that everyone expected was at last theirs, but in a most unexpected fashion. For one thing, the Americans had to deal with the unfamiliar concept of foul trouble. Five personal fouls disqualify a player in international competition. With nine minutes remaining in the first half, Charles Barkley, Gary Payton, Reggie Miller and Karl Malone each had two.

Of greater concern to the United States, Scottie Pippen, perhaps the most versatile and valuable member of the team, picked up his third foul and had to come out with 11:58 in the half.

More ominous signs: 1988 Olympians Robinson and Mitch Richmond, the only members of the Dream Team who have lost an Olympic game, were on the court.

With 9:46 left in the half, Yugoslavia led by seven. Zarko Paspalj was banking in awkward-looking jump shots and had scored 10 points.

With Pippen anchored to the bench, Barkley was the only available player who had the willpower to turn the game around. Barkley, who led the Phoenix Suns to the NBA Finals in 1993, drew a double-team and dropped a bounce pass to Robinson for a layup. Then Barkley scored four points of his own to help keep the Americans close before a 14-2 run gave them a 43-36 lead.

Anfernee Hardaway, one of the lesser-used members of the team, had eight points and two steals in 10 minutes, staking the United States to a 43-38 halftime lead.

The Yugoslavs wouldn’t go away, even after Divac fouled out with 15:20 remaining. A three-pointer by Aleksandar Djordjevic had them within a point with 14 minutes remaining. The United States pushed ahead by six, but things tightened up again. Barkley picked up his fourth personal foul with 11:50 remaining and 16 seconds later he was hit with a technical foul. Those count as personal fouls in international rules, so Barkley was done for the night, depriving the fans of the man who had come to be the crowd favorite during these Games.

Fans came to watch the Dream Team play basketball in record numbers, with more than 30,000 people regularly piling into the Georgia Dome for their sessions. Tonight’s crowd of 34,600 was the highest attendance ever at an Olympic basketball game.