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Lakers

Success in Finals Not Foreign to Them

By Bill Plaschke

Today’s die-hard Laker trivia question:

Slava Medvedenko, from Ukraine, became the first player from his nation to play in the NBA Finals. Can you name the four other internationally born players who have played for the Lakers in an NBA Finals?

You’ve probably guessed Mychal Thompson of the Bahamas in 1987, 1988 and 1991. And maybe, if you thought hard enough, you remembered that Rick Fox was born in Canada. And, of course, there was then-Yugoslavia’s Vlade Divac in 1991.

But did you complete the list with Canada’s Mike Smrek, who played for the Lakers in the finals in 1987 and 1988?

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Didn’t think so.

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Bill Plaschke

Bill Plaschke, an L.A. Times sports columnist since 1996, is a member of the National Sports Media Hall of Fame and California Sports Hall of Fame. He has been named national Sports Columnist of the Year nine times by the Associated Press, and twice by the Society of Professional Journalists and National Headliner Awards. He is the author of six books, including a collection of his columns entitled “Plaschke: Good Sports, Spoilsports, Foul Balls and Oddballs.” Plaschke is also a panelist on the popular ESPN daily talk show, “Around the Horn.” He is in the national Big Brothers/Big Sisters Alumni Hall of Fame and has been named Man of the Year by the Los Angeles Big Brothers/Big Sisters as well as receiving a Pursuit of Justice Award from the California Women’s Law Center. Plaschke has appeared in a movie (“Ali”), a dramatic HBO series (“Luck”) and, in a crowning cultural moment he still does not quite understand, his name can be found in a rap song “Females Welcome” by Asher Roth.

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