NBA STARS KNOW HOW TO RISE TO OCCASION.

Byline: PAUL OBERJUERGE

ATHENS, Greece - We came not to praise the NBA guys, but to bury them.

With half of the U.S. media contingent packed into the Olympic Indoor Hall stands, ready to say a few words over the departed Yanks once Spain took them off life support in the quarterfinals, Team USA showed unmistakable signs of vitality.

Shooting with confidence, defending with tenacity and shortening their bench, the Americans led most of the way in a 102-94 victory over the top-seeded and previously unbeaten Spaniards.

The basketball world might not be quite back on its proper axis, but it's not the wobbly mess it was just a few days ago, when the U.S. was 3-2 and ripe for quick dismissal from the Athens Olympics.

Turns out, the NBA guys can read the schedule as well as anyone, and they noticed that if you lose, from here on out, you're gone. One and done, like the NCAA Tournament.

So, they turned up the intensity and played as if it were the NBA postseason. Running, jumping, fighting through screens. Diving, even. It was almost inspirational.

Nothing like the prospect of the scaffold to focus one's mind.

``Guys understood that if we didn't go out and if we didn't play from the jump ... we wouldn't give ourselves a chance to win,'' said Stephon Marbury, who scored a U.S. Olympic-record 31 points.

``Our main concern was playing with a lot of energy and effort.''

Apparently, the American pros, despite their promises to have received that ``wake-up call'' when Italy beat them by 17 points before the Olympics, understood that 3-2 would get you into the playoffs and performed accordingly.

Everybody got their minutes during pool play. Everybody got a chance to freelance. And the Yanks looked positively ragged much of the time.

Now that they're into ``winnin' time,'' as Magic Johnson famously put it, the time for ego-stroking is out, and so is showmanship for its own sake.

Marbury ran the offense, often in tandem with Allen Iverson; Carlos Boozer, Tim Duncan and Lamar Odom did credible work inside, and the Young Guns, as they like to call themselves, mostly cheered them on from the bench.

That would be Emeka Okefor, who didn't enter the game. Carmelo Anthony, who got 2 minutes and change of playing time. Amare Stoudemire, who was in there for 4:32, long enough to dribble a ball off his foot and get a supreme facial from Spain's Pau Gasol.

Even LeBron James was a cipher, logging all of 6:36, missing two shots and contributing nothing but a nice headband to the cause.

The Dream Teams (remember them?) could parse out the minutes and the glory. But current coach Larry Brown realizes it's about gold here, with precious little margin for error, and he has thrown some egos on the junk heap.

What will make or break the Americans is their outside shooting.

Spain packed in its defense in a 2-3 zone like everyone else here has done, starving Duncan of the ball and inviting the Yanks to jack up some 3-pointers.

They did and, much to everyone's surprise, 55 percent of them (12 of 22) went in.

``From 18 percent (actually 24) in the first five games to 55 percent, that was something new in the tournament,'' Gasol said. ``Bad luck.''

It wasn't all luck. The opposition here is giving the Yanks miles of room to shoot, and with the 3-point line a negligible 19 feet and change from the basket, anybody with a mid-range jumper (and we know the NBA has precious few of those, anymore) can light it up.

That somebody happened to be Marbury on Thursday. After shooting 6 for 30 (20 percent) from the floor in his first five games, he was 6 for 9 behind the arc Thursday.

He said he spent two off days getting in some quality time in the gym, working on his jumper, and was encouraged to hoist a few shots by Brown.

Another key was expending the energy to get a hand in the faces of Spain's shooters and jumping into passing lanes for a steal or 10. Marbury and Iverson made a living off that, and Spain's offense went on the fritz for several stretches.

Not to say the Yanks are home free, with Argentina up next.

They still are too small, rather too young, erratic from the perimeter and no longer feared by anyone. But they just got past a team that was sure it would enjoy the honor of being the first nation to eliminate the NBA stars. The Yanks have found their heart, and the beat seems to be getting stronger and more regular, two victories from gold.

Paul Oberjuerge, [phone]

paul.oberjuerge(at)sbsun.com