The intra-squad scrimmage splits Team USA in half to two teams, Blue And White. A night that began with a ton of excitement and anticipation, sadly ended in devastating fashion.
Here are the rosters:
White Team:
Bradley Beal, DeMarcus Cousins, Andre Drummond, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard, Paul Millsap, Chandler Parsons and Klay Thompson.
Blue Team:
Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis, DeMar DeRozan, Kenneth Faried, Paul George, Gordon Hayward, Kyle Korver, Mason Plumlee, Derrick Rose and John Wall.
Team USA split the team up to determine who makes final cuts for the FIBA World Basketball Cup. There were a lot of people ready to watch the return of Derrick Rose, ready to see Kevin Durant, James Harden and Anthony Davis come back to lead Team USA after winning gold in the Olympics and how some of the new guys can acclimate to international play.
Derrick Rose started off strong for the Blue Team showing off his quickness and tremendous leaping ability. James Harden scored early and often for the White team as well as DeMar Derozan for the Blue team. Kevin Durant threw down some nasty dunks including a reverse baseline slam. Mason Plumlee got his game going in the third quarter and is trying to make the last spot on the team.
The real news though came 27 seconds into the fourth quarter.
The scrimmage was stopped at the beginning of the fourth quarter due to a very gruesome injury to Paul George.
Paul George went for a block in transition against James Harden, had a terrible landing against the stanchion and suffered what appeared to be a fractured right leg. Players all walked off the court with looks of disgust and anguish due to George’s injury. There’s been no official word on the specifics of the injury yet but it is to George’s lower right leg.
Jerry Colangelo and Coach Mike Krzyzewski say for right now and the immediate future, there will be no decisions going forward for Team USA and the roster.
Best of luck to Paul George to have a very speedy recovery.
