Perhaps one of the most dominant basketball teams ever assembled, the Dream Team was an offensive juggernaut, averaging just more than117 points per game. The USA men's basketball team brought home the gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, making it one of the most famous and dominant Olympic teams in U.S. history.
Formation And Qualifying
In April 1989, the governing body of Olympic basketball -- FIBA -- began allowing professional basketball players to be eligible to compete in the games. USA Basketball began assembling a team of professional players from the NBA. In June 1992, the team gathered to compete in a qualifying tournament in Portland, Oregon. In its first game, the Dream Team defeated Cuba by a whopping 79 points, 136-57. The team went on to win all five of its remaining qualifying games.
Team Members
The Dream Team was made up of some of the most famous NBA players to ever step foot on a basketball court. Besides perennial all-stars Michael Jordan, Karl Malone, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Patrick Ewing, the team featured backup players who were, at the time, the best players on their team. David Robinson, Charles Barkley, Chris Mullin and Clyde Drexler all played significant roles on the team. Christian Laettner, a member of the Duke Blue Devils college basketball team that won back-to-back national championships in 1991 and 1992, rounded out the team.
1992 Olympic Games
In Barcelona, the Dream Team steamrolled the competition, starting with a 68-point victory over Angola in the opening round. From there, the team notched victories over Croatia, Germany and Brazil in pod play. In the quarterfinals, Mullin poured in 21 points to lead the team to a 115-77 victory over Puerto Rico. A 127-76 victory over Lithuania put the Dream Team in the gold medal game against Croatia. Jordan led all team members with 22 points in that game, while Barkley pitched in 17 points and the U.S. team went on to a 117-85 win to capture the world's highest basketball honors.
Statistics And Hall of Fame
Barkley led all Dream Team members with an average of 18 points per game. In all, the team had an average margin of victory of 43.8 points. Malone and Ewing both averaged 5.3 rebounds per game to lead the Dream Team. In 2009, 17 years after the victory in Barcelona, the Dream Team was inducted into the US Olympic Hall of Fame.
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