Few stars, plenty of dunks at USA Basketball Showcase in the Mack

By Taylor Bern

Friday, Aug. 14, 2015 | 12:10 a.m.

It started with a botched jump ball and ended with the USA Men’s National Team essentially getting chased off the court by a rush of fans that clearly wasn’t supposed to get a free pass from Thomas & Mack Center security. In between at Thursday night’s USA Basketball Showcase, the players remaining from the original 34-man roster played a safe and occasionally lively scrimmage that provided points aplenty.

“Everybody out there was having fun,” said Andre Drummond, who led everyone with 27 points and 16 rebounds. “We had Kenneth Faried shooting 3s, so that’s always fun to watch. Victor Oladipo and Michael Carter-Williams were going at it, too. And everybody loves the Blake Griffin dunks.”

Various dunk contests broke out at several points during 134-128 White squad victory, much to the delight of the 12,211 announced crowd. With defense and most physical contact limited, there were a lot of lanes opening to the basket, and Drummond, Griffin, Oladipo and DeMar DeRozan all threw down memorable slams.

It was a little more than a year ago at the Mack that USA Basketball’s exhibition ended prematurely because of Paul George’s broken leg. Coach Mike Krzyzewski said there weren’t strict instruction to back off but with the next competition, the 2016 Rio Olympics, a year away this week’s minicamp and exhibition were always supposed to be less intense.

“Centers were throwing alley-oops,” Krzyzewski joked. “We didn’t put it in the offense, so don’t judge us on that.”

The biggest names — LeBron James, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant — left Las Vegas before the exhibition game. Of the 34 players who started minicamp on Tuesday, only 14 suited up for the game, which meant USA Basketball had to reach out for some more depth.

That led to some bizarre phone calls that caught guys like Arron Afflalo and Elfrid Payton off guard. As soon as he learned it was official, Afflalo said, he was ready to get more locked in than the exhibition would require.

“I kind of had a serious mind-set to start with, then once I saw the energy, that it was more of a free-form (game), more for the fans, it was OK,” he said.

The four new players — Afflalo, Payton, Amir Johnson and Terrence Jones — played with tape over the nameplate section of their jerseys. It was a small price to play for a little getaway Vegas vacation.

Obviously not everything went off without a hitch, and only a handful of players from Thursday's game have a realistic shot at making next year's Olympic roster. However, a relaxed and jovial atmosphere filled with dunks was obviously far better than last year’s scene.

“We’re thankful and grateful,” said USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo, “that we didn’t have any injuries.”

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.