The 1992 Tournament of the Americas, later known as the FIBA Americas Championship and the FIBA AmeriCup, was a basketball championship hosted by the United States from June 27 to July 5, 1992. The games were played at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon. This FIBA AmeriCup was to earn the four berths allocated to the Americas for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. It was the international debut of the Dream Team, which defeated Venezuela in the final to win the tournament. Puerto Rico and Brazil made the semifinals to also qualify for the Olympics.
Qualification Eight teams qualified during the qualification tournaments held in their respective zones in 1991; USA and Canada qualified automatically since they are the only two members of the North America zone. North America: , Caribbean and Central America:, , , South America: , , ,
The draw split the tournament into two groups:
Group A
Group B
Format The top three teams from each group advance to the knockout round. The winners in the knockout semifinals advanced to the Final and were granted berths in the 1992 Olympic Tournament in Barcelona. The losers figure in a third place playoff and were both also granted berths in the Olympic Tournament.
Squads
Preliminary round Qualified for the quarterfinals
Group A
Group B
Knockout round
Championship bracket
The final Dream team beat Venezuela easily by 127–80. Topscorers of the game were Carl Herrera with 21 pts, Charles Barkley and Karl Malone with 17 pts, Christian Laettner had 16 and Clyde Drexler 15 with 10 assists."From Rip City to Barcelona ". Associated Press. Toledo Blade. July 6, 1992. Retrieved August 13, 2010.
Awards Player of game This concerns the Dream Team's games held in Portland, Oregon. Game 1 vs Cuba: Clyde Drexler (20 pts, 7 assists) Game 2 vs Canada: Game 3 vs Panama: Game 4 vs Argentina: Michael Jordan Game 5 vs Puerto Rico: Magic Johnson (16 pts, 6 assists, 4 rebs) Game 6 vs Venezuela: Michael Jordan
MVP Charles Barkley and Magic Johnson were both named MVPs of the tournament. They both had 16 points average per game. The award was sponsored by Visa a worldwide sponsor of the 1992 Olympics.
Assists Magic Johnson was the top assister of the tournament with 54.
Final standings Qualified for the 1992 Olympic Tournament
Rank Team Record 6–0 4–3 5–1 4 4–3 5 2–3 6 2–3 7 1–3 8 1–3 9 1–3 10 0–4
References
Sources 1992 American Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men, FIBA.com. 1992 EDITION at latinbasket.com
External links 1992 Dream Team vs Venezuela - Tournament of the Americas Game 6 on YouTube (Full Game) 1992 Dream Team vs Puerto Rico - Tournament of the Americas Game 5 on YouTube (Full Game) 1992 Dream Team vs Argentina - Tournament of the Americas Game 4 on YouTube (Full Game) 1992 Dream Team vs Canada - Tournament of the Americas Game 2 on YouTube (Full Game) 1992 Deam Team USA - Panama on YouTube (Full Game) 1992 Dream Team vs Cuba - Tournament of the Americas Game 1 on YouTube (Full Game)