U.S. Does the Smoking in 128-62 Victory Over Greece

Notorious after flaunting anti-smoking rules on their transatlantic flight, the Greek basketball players insist they were falsely accused.

They were certainly innocents Sunday in the Hoosier Dome, a non-smoking facility in which they had nothing to worry about. They weren’t the smokers but the smokees, overrun by the Dream Team, 128-62, in its final exhibition.

The Americans, who were almost ambushed in their opener by collegians who led by 17 points at halftime, finished a 5-0 exhibition schedule, winning the last four over Brazil by 41, China by 61, Australia by 41 and Greece by 66.

“I wasn’t concerned,” said U.S. Coach Lenny Wilkens of the opener. “I was angry but that’s coaches.

“You know, coaches react. We never like to play poorly, we never like to lose, all those type things. But I also knew too, you had a number of guys who have been off since the season ended and haven’t done anything.

“And then we’re trying to bring them together, blend them together. It reminded me of ’92 when we [the original Dream Team] played a select team down in La Jolla, Calif. The only thing different was, it wasn’t on television. And they beat us that first game. And then our guys realized, OK, we got to go to work. And then the next day we got off to 19-0 against the college select team.

“This was a good wake-up call. . . . I was happy for the college kids, I really was. I thought they played great. I was a little angry at my guys because I felt we needed to take it up a notch.”

Dutifully, his players took it up a notch. Wilkens’ teams in Cleveland and Atlanta were known for tough defense and even this one, composed of stars, most of whom have helpers on their teams to do the dirty work, has snapped to it.

Sunday it took the Greeks four possessions to get their first shot, by which time Gary Payton had taken the ball from their point guard and gone in for a layup, and Hakeem Olajuwon had blocked a shot.

Before the game was four minutes old, the Americans led, 20-3, and it didn’t get any more competitive. The U.S. proceeded to go on runs of 9-0, 16-2 and 13-6 to end the half with a 74-34 lead.

“For us, it was an honor to go up against the Dream Team,” said Greek Coach Gerasimos Dendrinos through an interpreter. “It is obvious there can be no comparison between these two teams. But what upset me the most, I didn’t think we were mentally and physically into the game from the beginning.”

They looked wobbly spiritually too, as befit their reputation after the pilot of their Delta flight to New York accused them of smoking, obliging them to promise to obey the rules before the airline consented to carry them further.

“There has been a misunderstanding,” Dendrinos said, “because not even the pilot on the airplane can prove the person who was attempting to smoke in the bathroom was one of the Greek basketball players.”

The Greeks say a drunken passenger who was sitting among them in business class was the culprit. But cigarette-toting drunks were the least of their problems Sunday.

They came, they were spotted, they were put to the torch. No misunderstanding about it, whatsoever.