The venue: Madison Square Garden
Odds: Dream Team ($1.53 with sportsbet.com.au) vs. 2012: ($2.45 with CrownBet.com.au)
Line: Dream Team -6.5 ($1.91 with WilliamHill.com.au)
Total game score: under/over 235.5 ($1.91 with bet365.com.au)
The premise: In our sports imagination series, we’ll take a look at some of the greatest teams and sports men and women ever to display their athletic prowess and, using out time machine, pit them against each other at the peak of their powers in imaginary match ups. Let us know if you think we got it right.
SHOTS fired: “We have just a bunch of young racehorses, guys that are eager too compete, I think we will run them off their feet.”
Los Angeles Lakers golden boy Kobe Bryant has fired the first shot at Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan and the 1992 US Olympic team ahead of their much hyped match up at the Mecca of basketball, Madison Square Garden this week.
“Just from a basketball standpoint, they obviously have a lot more size than we do, you know, with guys like (David) Robinson and (Patrick) Ewing and (Karl) Malone and those guys,” Bryant said.
“But they are also a lot older than us, kind of at the end of their careers,” he added with a grin.
We caught up with Jordan as he toked on a stogie at an exclusive Chicago bar to ask him what he thought of Bryant’s comments.
“Is he serious? Kobe is 34. He’s older than me,” Jordan, 29, laughed.
“I hope he’s ready.”
Jordan is set to lead a virtual who is who of NBA basketball royalty as part of the first USA basketball team to feature professional players.
“We’re a bunch of competitive beasts, but there is a real feel around the group that sacrifice will lead us to great things,” Jordan said.
We phoned Bird and caught him on his cellular telephone as he shot hoops on an old hoop out the back of his farm in Indiana and he said the chronic back issues that had recently plagued him would not be an issue, with the shorter three point lines set to make the Boston great’s favourite outside shot like a lay up.
And he was philosophical about having to match up with Miami Heat bull Lebron James, who some say is the greatest small forward to ever live.
“Pippen can have him on defence,” Bird said.
“Then I’ll just go up the other end and splash them in his face.”
During their Olympic gold medal winning performance at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, they slaughtered every one and even had one player on the court screaming at a team mate to get a photograph of him guarding Magic Johnson.
They went undefeated to capture gold, winning by an average margin of an incredible 44 points per game.
They are a bunch of rock stars, the kings of the court.
But they have a challenger.
This 2012 side is so athletic and talented, with plenty of shooting.
The 2012 team finished the tournament with a perfect 8-0 record, winning by an average margin of 32 points per game and setting the single game Olympic record with 156 points against Nigeria, before defeating Spain to capture the gold.
With not a lot of frontline talent in the line up, the side often played a lot of small ball to break opponents down with their speed.
A packed house is set to converge on MSG for the game, with the televised match up set to break global broadcast records.
Rosters
1992: Charles Barkley, Larry Bird, Clyde Drexler, Patrick Ewing, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Karl Malone, Chris Mullin, Scottie Pippen, David Robinson, John Stockton, Christian Laettner
2012: Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Russell Westbrook, Kobe Bryant, James Harden, LeBron James, Andre Iguodala, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Blake Griffin, Kevin Love, Tyson Chandler
Our predictions
Match result: Dream Team wins ($1.53 with sportsbet.com.au)
Line: Dream Team -6.5 ($1.91 with WilliamHill.com.au)
Total match points: Over 215.5 ($1.91 with bet365.com.au)
As far as egos go, you would be hard pressed to go past the 1992 Dream Team as among the men most high on themselves in the world. But, for some reason, things just click.
Each player is a god on the basketball court and it is that mutual respect they have for each other’s supreme talents that makes them such a formidable opponent.
The 2012 incarnation looks like a very fun team to play on. But this game will probably be won and lost in the paint. The Admiral is a destructive force and perhaps one of the most athletic big men ever to set foot on a basketball court. Add that tower of power to the silk of Patrick Ewing, the muscle of Karl Malone and the monster that is the Round Mound of Rebound, Charles Barkley. Those four are going to annihilate Tyson Chandler and Kevin Love, while Anthony Davis is very raw and not ready to compete on the level of these big rigs. Hands down, the 2012 model is going to get destroyed in the paint.
And even when you head outside, the 2012 version just does not have the depth to compete. Jordan vs Bryant is perhaps the most intriguing match up of two of the most competitive men ever to battle it out on the hard wood. But we’re giving this one to MJ. For all Kobe’s talents, he is Jordan’s mimic. His Airness did it first and he did it better.
James Harden and Clyde Drexler will go head to head at the two and we give that match up to Drexler, who plays only slightly more defence than No D James. If the 2012 team does have a slight advantage, it might be from the play maker spot. No one is suggesting that Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul or Deron Williams are better than Magic Johnson at his peak, but this is 1992 Magic, coming toward his much publicised retirement. Westbrook would be a handful for him. Those three would probably be slowed down by Stockton, given that they would probably cop a few whacks to the groin when they tried to blow past him.
At the three Carmelo Anthony is going to be a hand full for Pippen, Bird and Chris Mullin. No one player has been helped more by the International rules as Melo, who was prone to remarkable spurts of microwave scoring throughout the 2012 London Olympics gold medal winning campaign. But Mullin is no slouch and Andre Iguodala will have his work cut out trying to stop him. Durant is the other feather in the 2012 team’s cap, but, for all his supreme scoring prowess, he will be more than over matched trying to compete with the likes of Barkey and Malone.
It is a shame the 2012 team is missing injured men Derrick Rose, Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh. We’re not saying that would have helped them win, but they could have kept the margin a little closer.
Top scorer tips
Dream Team
Charles Barkley ($3.25 with sportsbet.com.au)
The Chuckster was the star of this 1992 Olympic team, leading it in both scoring, with 18 points per game, and photo opportunities. From his hilarious interviews, to his supreme basketball, Barkley dominated the 1992 Olympic tournament from start to finish. Despite being relatively diminutive for a power forward, there is simply no one on the 2012 team that will be able to stop him. The plays will be drawn up for him and he will make no mistake. A no brainer.
2012 USA team
Carmelo Anthony ($4.50 with CrownBet.com.au)
It’s out of Melo and Durant for this one. The two silky swingmen are the most talented scorers on this side, with Kobe ageing gracefully. The Dream Team will have its work cut out trying to clamp down on Durant and James, leaving Melo to do his thing. Melo, who averaged 16.3 points per game in the 2012 olympic tournament, seems to just relish the international rules and competition and we expect him to heat up, especially with Pippen having his hands full with Lebron. He played a lot of four during the World Championships and that means the likes of Malone and Barkley will find it difficult to close out on him when he flares out for jumpers – which he tends to splash when playing for his country.
