MADRID, Spain -- Larry Bird scored 27 points and the Boston Celtics opened the second half with a 30-13 surge Friday to crush the Yugoslavian national team 113-85 in the semifinals of a four-nation basketball tournament.
Kevin McHale added 21 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Celtics, who reasserted American basketball supremacy three weeks after the United States stumbled to its worst Olympic finish with a bronze medal behind Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union.
Boston will face tournament host Real Madrid, which defeated Scavolini Pesaro of Italy 108-96 in the other semifinal, in Sunday's championship game.
The Celtics struggled in the first quarter and led by only 6 at the half, but their depth and defense helped bury Yugoslavia in the third quarter as they showed signs of the quicker game new Coach Jimmy Rodgers wants to implement.
'At halftime we went in and I thought there was a real different attitude in the lockerroom,' Rodgers said. 'We were challenged and we had to adjust.'
The Yugoslavians, who showed excellent jumping ability and used their aggressiveness to drive through the middle of the Celtic defense in the first half, sorely missed team leader and top scorer Drazen Petrovic, who is playing for Real Madrid in the tournament.
Forward Zarko Paspalj, whose quick moves to the basket left Bird confused in the first half, led the Yugoslavs with 18 points. Stojan Vrankovic, a 7-foot-2 center who signed a contract with the Celtics last spring but hasn't yet decided whether to play in the United States, scored only 4 points and was outplayed on both ends by veteran center Robert Parish.
The game was surrounded by a festive atmosphere that included a small but noisy group of green-clad Celtics fans and other bits of Americana including the dancing and other courtside antics of The Chicken ('El Pollo') and the scantily clad Memphis State University cheerleaders, who drew incredulous stares from the Yugoslavian players.