The call for medical attention came at 5 a.m. Tuesday from a stateroom aboard the Queen Mary II in Piraeus Harbor.
Lamar Odom was dehydrated and suffering from severe stomach pains. The diagnosis was a virus. Stay in bed, drink plenty of liquids and try to avoid running up and down the court for 40 minutes in an Olympic basketball game.
That would have been the logical thing to do. And in any other Olympic year since 1992, it’s probably what Odom would have been told.
But not this year. Not even against Tuesday night’s opponent, Greece, a squad whose top two players share a total of one NBA season.
The U.S., which lost to Puerto Rico in its opener, struggled again at Helliniko Indoor Arena. And, with Allen Iverson playing with a fractured thumb, Tim Duncan fouling out in the fourth quarter and Carlos Boozer in foul trouble, the U.S. needed Odom, virus and all, to hang on for a 77-71 victory in front of a sellout crowd of about 12,000.
Odom’s key defensive stop on Dimitris Papanikolaou and subsequent two free throws with the U.S. leading by four in the final 15 seconds put the game out of reach.
“I am very dehydrated and my energy level is low,” Odom said. “But this is the Olympics. It’s no time to be sick.”
It’s also no time to miss outside shots, lose defensive intensity or turn the ball over, but the U.S. continues to do all three with alarming frequency.
After going just 3-for-24 from three-point range against Puerto Rico, the U.S. went 4-for-21 against Greece. As was the case against Puerto Rico, the U.S. was outshot.
“I believe we will make an outside shot sometime in this tournament,” said U.S. coach Larry Brown, frustration on his face. “Shooting in the NBA has become a lost art. We accept a lot of bad shots, and I don’t like that. I think we try to entertain more than just play basketball.”
Iverson, who injured his thumb in the first U.S. game and aggravated it in practice, shot just 4-of-14, yet led his team with 17 points.
Greece’s scoring leader was Antonios Fotsis, the first Greek to play in the NBA. Fotsis lasted only one season with Memphis, but he hit 8 of 15 for a game-high 22 points Tuesday.
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With 6 minutes 19 seconds left, the Greeks trailed 62-61. They still trailed only 67-63 when Tim Duncan fouled out with 3:52 to play.
It was tough to lose Duncan at such a critical moment. He had scored 13 of his 14 points in the second half and had a game-high nine rebounds.
That left the heavy lifting to Odom, the man who could barely lift himself up to get to the arena. But he played 27 minutes, had seven points, eight rebounds and three crucial blocked shots.
“I know one thing,” said teammate Shawn Marion. “Lamar was our MVP tonight.”