SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- The Americans finished with a flourish, giving Argentina -- and the rest of the world -- something to think about for the next year.

	Richard Jefferson hoists the trophy, flanked by (from left) Tracy McGrady, Mike Bibby and Kenyon Martin.

"We're the best in the world," Jermaine O'Neal said after the U.S. team defeated Argentina 106-73 Sunday night in the gold medal game at the Tournament of the Americas.

A year from now, they'll get a chance to try and prove it.

The U.S. team proved one thing definitively in its final game: They are once again better than Argentina in basketball. Much, much better.

In a brilliant first half that featured a devastating 21-0 run, unbelievable alley-oop dunks were followed by even better ones that sent the "ooh" and "ah" meter off the charts in the strongest all-around performance by a U.S. team since the Sydney Olympics.

"I think that game right there is really going to leave a taste in somebody's mouth," Tracy McGrady said.

A much more competitive gold medal game was expected from Argentina, which defeated the United States last summer at the World Championships and performed brilliantly in its semifinal win over Canada on Saturday night. Argentina also competed well against the U.S. team in the second round, losing by just eight.

But with nothing at stake aside from national pride, the Americans showed themselves ready to restore a sense of normalcy to a basketball universe that changed so drastically last summer when the U.S. team lost three times at the World Championships.

Led by Tim Duncan, McGrady, Vince Carter and Jason Kidd, the Americans brought a much stronger team to this tournament -- a squad that peaked in its finale.

One sequence over the first 5½ minutes of the second quarter went like this: a dunk by Elton Brand, a high-arcing alley-oop pass from Mike Bibby to McGrady for a dunk, an alley-oop dunk by Carter off a pass from Bibby, a basket for Argentina, a fast-break dunk by Carter, a steal and layup by Bibby, an alley-oop dunk by O'Neal off a pass from Kidd.

When it ended, the score was 53-19.

Game over -- except for the formality of the final 24½ minutes.

"The U.S. played their best game. They surprised us during the whole game," Argentina center Fabricio Oberto said. "The intensity was so much that we couldn't go up to that level. But we're very happy because our first objective was to classify for Athens."

The Americans opened the second half by scoring their first three baskets on dunks -- two of them by Duncan in his most dominant performance of the tournament with 23 points and 14 rebounds.

"It's expected to win, but it's a relief to come out here and do it the right way," Duncan said. "Was it surprising? A little bit. We didn't expect to take it to them like that, but at the same time we knew we were capable of doing it."

This performance should result in the United States entering the Athens Olympics as the strong favorite, although not a prohibitive one given the strength of several of the best European teams.

As for Argentina, the consistent crispness that they showed at the World Championships was replaced by a striking degree of inconsistency that will need to be corrected if the team expects to be in medal contention next summer.

"We wanted to come out and be extremely sharp, give the world something to think about for a year," O'Neal said.