By Israel Gutierrez | The Miami Herald

BEIJING — If Dwyane Wade had his way, the clever play on words wouldn't be necessary.

This wouldn't be the Redeem Team. He wouldn't have waited four years for a second chance. He wouldn't be part of an Olympic team that momentarily dishonored the name of USA basketball.

"(The) '04 (Olympics) shouldn't have happened," Wade said. "Where USA basketball is now from where it was, it's not even like the same thing. This is the Olympics. I don't know what that was, really."

It was a bronze-medal performance from a disjointed and disconnected team of mostly young players, with a coach in Larry Brown whose style didn't match his personnel.

Wade, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony came off their first NBA seasons, in which they played leading roles on their teams, only to enter the Games and play bit roles, undefined roles, under Brown.

Now the trio has officially exorcised those bronze demons, guaranteeing no worse than silver after beating Argentina 101-81 Friday to advance to the gold-medal game against Spain.

But despite this '08 team putting away opponents with the ease of the 1990s Dream Teams, Wade still can't quite get that Athens experience entirely out of his mind. The one that never should have happened. Not just for the sake of U.S. basketball, but for the sake of the trio's legacy.

"I don't think LeBron, myself and Carmelo should've even been a part of that team," Wade said. "If we were going to be a big part of the team, we would've played. We didn't play on a team that wasn't even a good team.

"It kind of tarnished our history of what we've done in this game and what we're going to do in this game. It should never have happened."

Perhaps Wade can take solace in knowing it won't happen again. The Argentinians did what they could to irritate the U.S., playing the clutch-and-grab, fake-and-flop basketball that they have become known for.

For a short while, it appeared to get under the Americans' skin. But unlike the immature, internationally inexperienced 2004 squad, this team composed itself just in time.

"We were tested tonight, mentally and physically," said Anthony, who led the Americans with 21 points on just 3 of 14 from the field but 13 of 13 from the foul line. "I'm pretty sure their game plan was to try to get in our heads tonight, rattle us up out there. I think we did a hell of a job keeping our composure out there.

"They wanted to play physical. We played physical with them. I think we beat them at their own game tonight."

Anthony was the player closest to losing his cool Friday. After a first half of banging in the paint with the bigger Argentinian big men - Anthony plays power forward and some center for the U.S. - Anthony nearly cracked when Carlos Delfino was called for an unsportsmanlike foul against Dwight Howard.

He rushed toward and pushed Delfino, in Howard's defense, before Jason Kidd yanked him away.

"I wasn't going to do anything," Anthony said. "I just wanted to protect Dwight. He got smacked in the face pretty hard. He's still young, so I gotta protect my little brother."

The incident came during a 12-4 U.S. run to start the second half, helping the Americans separate themselves from a game Argentina team that had crawled to within six points in the second quarter.

The U.S. was getting pushed around, was not getting the benefit of calls from officials and was launching three-pointers like they were worth twice as much (20 three-point attempts in the first half). Had that happened four years ago, the Americans probably would've folded under the unfamiliar circumstances.

This team recovered to make the second half much less of a contest.

"There were a couple bad shots taken," Wade said. "And the thing is, when one is taken, two are taken, three are taken. It seems like you're losing it. But one thing we understand about each other is we have each other's back.

"We all support each other. We've been through tough times together. We're going to go through tough times in Sunday's game. But as long as we continue to stick with it over the course of 40 minutes, we'll be fine."

The 20-point margin of victory was the smallest the U.S. has managed in going 7-0 in the Olympic tournament. A close matchup was expected from Argentina, the defending Olympic champions who played most of the game without star Manu Ginobili after he injured his left foot in the first quarter.

And the U.S. is expecting a potentially tougher matchup against Spain, the defending world champions, despite having beaten the Spaniards 119-82 in pool play.

A win Sunday will officially make this search for redemption a success.

Anthony doesn't mind that this is his first chance at gold in his second Games. He's not disagreeing with Wade about 2004. He just believes the past will only enhance his immediate future.

"I do believe what Dwyane said, but that experience is only going to make this experience that much better," Anthony said. "I can't wait until we get that chance to win that gold medal on Sunday."