The Night the Dream Team Got Bored and Lost Stockton: 105-61 vs Canada (II)

One day after demolishing Cuba, the Dream Team beat Canada by 44 points and everyone left unhappy. Without Bird and with Stockton fractured in the first minute after a collision with Jordan, it was the most uncomfortable night of the pre-Olympic tournament.

Winning by 44 and leaving angry

Seen today, a 105-61 scoreline doesn't seem like material for self-criticism. But on June 29, 1992, it was.

Ira Winderman wrote it in the Sun Sentinel with a phrase that says it all: one day after going into halftime 67-27 against Cuba, the United States had to settle for a 50-33 halftime score in a strangely silent Memorial Coliseum. Even when the lead reached 30 points with 13 minutes remaining, worried faces could be seen on the U.S. bench.

Chuck Daly didn't hide it afterward. He acknowledged they hadn't played well, that he expected it, and that they had kept the opponent alive longer than they should have.

Two absences and a collision

The United States played without Larry Bird, who had back problems that would follow him all summer and would also cause him to miss the next game against Panama. Patrick Ewing was dealing with a dislocated thumb.

And in the first minute came the important moment of the night. John Stockton collided with Michael Jordan and went to the bench thinking it was a muscle contusion. He tried to shake it off running alongside the bench and down the corridor. Subsequent X-rays revealed a non-displaced fracture of the right fibula.

Stockton himself recounted it later with his usual dryness: Jordan appeared out of nowhere, very fast, and caught him with his knee. It was his first broken bone.

"We hope he can play in Barcelona"

The announcement came that same night. David Fischer, the team physician, confirmed that Stockton would miss the rest of the Americas Tournament and that his presence in Barcelona remained uncertain. They didn't put him in a cast and he was able to continue doing physical work.

Tournament rules prevented substituting him on the spot, but Daly had until July 15 to finalize the twelve players for the Games. The names being discussed as replacements were Tim Hardaway, Mark Price, and Isiah Thomas, which added an extra layer of intrigue given the veto that had kept Thomas off the team.

Meanwhile, Daly improvised: Jordan and Scottie Pippen alternating ball-handling duties with Magic Johnson, and more minutes for Drexler and Mullin at shooting guard.

Stockton made it to Barcelona. He debuted against Spain with 9:55 remaining in the first quarter, and recorded four points and no assists in six minutes. Karl Malone, his teammate in Utah, admitted that he had shown a lot of character taking the court, but that this wasn't the Stockton he played with every night.

The photo, again

And yes, there was a photo too. Canadian coach Ken Shields organized it before the game.

Leo Rautins, a 32-year-old Canadian veteran, recounted years later that it seemed crazy to him: when he saw his teammates excited about the idea, he thought they were giving away twenty points before the game even started. His teammate J.D. Jackson downplayed it: it wouldn't have changed anything. Canada was two decades away from producing the talent it produces today.

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