VICTORY AN OUTSIDE SHOT IN ARM FOR U.S. U.S. 102, SPAIN 94.

Byline: Steve Dilbeck Staff Writer

ATHENS, Greece - For one game, all was right again. Or at least, looked very familiar.

The U.S. basketball team hit shots, looked fairly impressive, had the crowd cheering against the American bullies and even had the opposing team accusing the officials of bias.

It remained a definite shade shy of the Dream Team, but with Stephon Marbury scoring a team-record 31 points, the U.S. dispatched Spain 102-94 Thursday afternoon to advance to the semifinals.

It was a tough break for Spain, which had gone 5-0 in its pool to arrive here, that it drew an underachieving U.S. squad that decided to finally put the pedal down.

``They looked motivated,'' said Pau Gasol, who led Spain with 29 points. ``And it's hard to beat them if they play like that.''

The U.S. did what it had been struggling to do since the squad was formed - knock shots down from outside.

The U.S. hit 12 of 22 from 3-point range, with Marbury leading everyone by hitting all but three of his nine 3-point attempts. Spain hit on only seven of its 23 3-point attempts.

Marbury had struggled terribly throughout the Olympic tournament, getting outplayed by almost every point guard he went up against.

On Thursday, he was a difference maker.

``Stephon shot the ball like Stephon today,'' Lamar Odom said. ``We have a couple of guys on this team who can score, who can fill it up. If it's not one guy, then it'll be another guy.''

Tim Duncan had been the main guy, but he fell into early foul trouble, sat and played only about half the game.

Still, the U.S. led throughout most of the first half. The Americans are hardly a finished product and oddly continue to have trouble with the opposing team's dribble-penetration.

But things appeared generally smoother than in earlier efforts, the U.S. now clinging to the hope it's finally becoming more of a team.

``We've been together awhile now - not as long as I'd like,'' U.S. coach Larry Brown. ``We've been through some tough times. Sometimes adversity brings you together. We've grown much closer as a group.''

Brown had his own unexpected adversity after the game with Spain coach Mario Pesquera, and it turned into a mini-international incident.

Pesquera was upset Brown called a timeout with 23 seconds to play and the U.S. leading by 11 points.

When the two went to shake hands after the game, he let Brown know his displeasure, at one point waving a finger in his face. That set Brown off, and the two had to be separated by assistants, the feisty Brown overheard at one point to say, ``You want some of this?''

Brown said in his postgame conference, with Pesquera sitting two chairs away, that he had called the timeout earlier when Spain had cut the U.S. lead to seven points, but by the time there was finally a stoppage in play, the lead was back to 11 and he tried to wave off the timeout but the officials' table would not allow it.

Brown said he tried to explain this to Pesquera, but it was ``like a discussion with my son where you don't have a chance to explain.''

Brown said he knows Pesquera had visited practices at North Carolina, so he had to learn something.

After Brown was excused from the press conference, Pesquera said if Brown really wanted to cancel the timeout, he wouldn't have called his players over for instruction.

``I had - I stress had - a lot of respect for coach Brown,'' Pesquera said. ``Dean Smith would never have done that.''

Brown played for Smith at North Carolina.

That wasn't all Pesquera was upset about. The officials came into question, with the Spanish coach convinced they were auditioning for jobs in the NBA.

``We played NBA rules not FIVA, with all the traveling and touches,'' he said. ``It was very difficult.

``It's pointless to have rules that benefit one team and not the other. We were the stronger team. I think it's time we told the truth on this.''

Pesquera was no doubt frustrated that he might have the second-best team in the tournament, but because the U.S. lost two games in its pool, he drew the most talented team in the tournament and, for one night at least, the Americans came close to playing like it.

``Let's be honest now, the U.S. was playing at 40 capacity for two games,'' he said.

Spain made a game of it until late. But the U.S. was ultimately too balanced, It got 16 points from Allen Iverson, 12 from Carlos Boozer, and 11 points and six rebounds from Lamar Odom.

Duncan, who played less than 21 minutes, had nine points.

But playing more together, the overcame Duncan's playing time, and the play of Spain.

``We're getting better and better as the tournament is going on,'' Richard Jefferson said.

Steve Dilbeck, [phone]

stephen.dilbeck(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Tim Duncan tries to block a dunk by Spain's Pau Gasol, who plays for the Memphis Grizzlies.

Lucy Nicholson/Associated Press