Wake up call for Dream Team

Not so smug now, eh? Not feeling like the USA is impervious to all those other little teams. Not about to take anything for granted on our s...

Not so smug now, eh? Not feeling like the USA is impervious to all those other little teams. Not about to take anything for granted on our shrinking globe. There’s a new world basketball order, and the US can no longer assume birthright to rule it.

That was no simple loss the US team suffered to Puerto Rico on Sunday night — it was a major butt-kicking.

That was not a bunch of college players getting absolutely jobbed of gold in Munich. It wasn’t overmatched college kids losing to the Soviets in the semis at Seoul. That was a team of NBA players. Millionaires. First-round draft picks. Franchise players. All-Stars.

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And Puerto Rico mopped up the Helliniko Indoor Arena with the once-mighty US. Made them look like the Washington Generals. Their punks to pound for a night. Almost toyed with them in a 92-73 victory.

After that unimpressive pre-Olympics run, it was a day everyone feared was coming. They just didn’t figure it would happen in the first game. Against itty-bitty Puerto Rico. It is easily the most embarrassing international basketball loss in US history.

Dream Team turns Team Nightmare.

The great NBA scheme to return the US to international dominance lasted a whole three Olympics, and barely that.

To be sure, this was not the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird-Michael Jordan team of Barcelona, the Shaquille O’Neal-Charles Barkley-David Robinson team of Atlanta or even the Vince Carter-Kevin Garnett-Alonzo Mourning squad of Sydney.

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But enough already with how undermanned it is. Enough about the 12 players who, for various reasons, turned the team down. How young it is.

It is still overflowing with NBA All-Stars. Last time I checked, Tim Duncan was still considered one of the four best players in the world. Allen Iverson had scored over 14,000 NBA points. Stephon Marbury was the only player in NBA history with averages over 20 points and 8 assists. Amare Stoudemire and LeBron James were NBA rookies of the year.

And they can’t beat Puerto Rico?

Puerto Rico, population 3.8 million, same as the city of Los Angeles? The US should be able to send its NBA sixth-string team and spank Puerto Rico. Guess we’d make it a state quick to prevent further embarrassment.

Puerto Rico started a part-time starting guard for the Utah Jazz, a 40-year-old center and a guy who played three years at USC who you probably never heard of.

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And just wiped the floor with the US. ‘‘It was a disappointing loss, but it’s not the end of the world,’’ Iverson said.

No, just the end of the world as we’ve always known it. Sure, the US can still survive pool play and advance.

But every single team here now believes — and should— that it can beat the United States.

(The New York Times)