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Critics and challenges awaken "sleeping dog" Dream Team
SYDNEY, Australia, Sept 11 (AFP) - Stung by criticism and tested by a top rival, the United States Olympic basketball "Dream Team" has suddenly developed something which had been lacking - motivation. The overwhelming favorites for gold at the Sydney Olympics were irked by Australian newspaper articles questioning whether some of their players were deserving of making the elite squad of National Basketball Association stars. "I felt a little disrespected," Miami center Alonzo Mourning said. "When you write something like that, it's just a total lack of respect and I was offended by it as well, as were my teammates. "That just gave us some extra incentive to go out and let everybody know that USA basketball is the best basketball in the world. We are the best players in the world, hands down. My motto is you dont wake a sleeping dog." This dog has teeth, but he's not the biggest dog to ever walk this path. Compared to the 1992 original with Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson and the 1996 squad with Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaquille O'Neal, this year's lineup was hurt by elite players who are not here. Los Angeles Lakers center O'Neal, the NBA scoring champion and Most Valuable Player, said he wanted more time with his family. Teammate Kobe Bryant was not among the first 12 asked and rejected a late replacement offer because he was getting married. Tim Duncan and Grant Hill decided to enjoy a rest break after rehabilitation of injuries and controversial Allen Iverson, a trash talker who pushed O'Neal for the points crown, was not asked as the NBA sought a more clean-cut image. "These guys are great players," US coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "I'm extremely pleased with whos on this team. Ive played against these guys and as far as a working, positive attitude, work-ethic, winning atmosphere, these guys are the best." Now Payton, the lone repeater from the 1996 squad, joins Mourning, Kevin Garnett and NBA slam dunk champion Vince Carter as the main attractions on a US team without a player who has ever claimed an NBA title. "Ive always said the Dream Team, you take all those guys and they are Hall of Famers and we will have some guys who are Hall of Famers in the near future, but were younger," Ray Allen said. "As years go by the Dream Teams that go to the Olympics will be younger." And because the all-star lineup was gathered only in late August, it lacks the years of teamwork some Olympic rivals enjoy. To date it has not mattered, but the Dream Team's ultimate nightmare is that first-ever loss. "We need to go into Sydney knowing that there are teams out there who know how to play basketball," Allen said. "Were a good team. We are the best players in the world, but there are teams that have been playing with each other for three or four months now, so we have to go out and play together." If the Dream Team's unblemished record is not intimidating enough, the US players have a propensity of trash talk and physical play, best recalled by Charles Barkley's elbow slam to the chest of an Angolan foe in 1992. His trash talk mastery has been inherited by guard Gary Payton, who told college rivals in a Hawaii tuneup game to "get back there and play some defense" and told the victim of a Kevin Garnett block, "I guess you haven't been watching TV for the past two years." Citing the fact that some rivals might not be able to understand taunts in English, Payton said he plans a cutback on verbal abuse during the Games. "I'm not going to talk like that in Sydney," Payton said. "We're just going to do our job and get on with our business." But woe to the foe who starts trash talk. Payton vows to have the last word. "If some teams say something, we're going to start talking," he said.
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