What was supposed to be a showcasing of some of the best talent the world has to offer on Friday at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, soon turned into an event in a state of shock as one of the game's best young stars was hauled out onto a stretcher. During the fourth quarter of the USA Men's Basketball Team's Blue vs White scrimmage, fans and players witnessed one of the most horrific sports injuries in recent memory when Paul George of the Indiana Pacers tried making a play on a fastbreak layup by Houston's James Harden. With all of his momentum on his right leg, George came down hard at an angle as his foot met with the stanchion near the bottom of the basket, leaving his leg nowhere to go but down as footage of the gruesome injury showed. Footage of the injury left us turning our heads and looking elsewhere, reminiscent of those suffered by such athletes as Joe Theismann, Shaun Livingston, Kevin Ware and more recently Anderson Silva of the UFC.
George suffered a compound fracture to the tibia and fibula in his right leg and was rushed to a nearby hospital. Being in the building to watch the game and witnessing the injury firsthand gave a different picture opposed to what fans may have seen watching the game on television. With my seats being in the upper deck and everything happening all at once, it was hard to immediately make out exactly what had happened and to who. But the immediate reaction from the fans sitting courtside and the players on the bench, many of which were hiding their faces in towels, gave you an idea that it was something serious. With the game being delayed for several minutes as members of the coaching staff and medical personnel rushed to the scene, any hopes we had of a player just being shaken up were erased once the stretcher came rolling out. As a majority of the arena was left still wondering who had gotten hurt, I began questioning why an instant replay of the incident had not been shown on the jumbotron and after later seeing the footage in slow-motion, I now know why. And in case you've yet to see the footage, I suggest you do so with caution if you're easily squeamish.
With chants of "U.S.A" being poured onto the court by fans showing their support, it wasn't long before players and coaches from both benches met near mid-court for prayer which coach Mike Krzyzewski then followed by addressing the fans that the exhibition game had come to an end despite the 9 minutes and 33 seconds remaining on the game clock. It would be a classy move by Coach K and one that all of the fans that I came in contact with fully understood which was ultimately the right decision in respect for George and his family. With players and fans all taking to Twitter after the incident to express their sympathy and wish him a speedy recovery, George himself took to the social media site a few hours later just before undergoing surgery to thank all those that have wished him well and said he'd be back and better than ever.
Rapid Reaction - While the injury to Paul George is very unfortunate, there's no denying that it'll change the way players look at competing at the international level and even more so in exhibition games like the one that took place tonight. Not to mention the team owners and general managers who cringe at the thought of these exhibition games players decide to play in after being signed to multi-Million dollar contracts. Could this be the beginning of the end for USA Basketball and the NBA's brightest stars that choose to play or is the privilege of playing for their country a big enough honor to keep the game's biggest names interested?
Though there's no denying the injury is a freak accident, it's obvious how unsafe the base of the basket is at Thomas & Mack where the UNLV Basketball team calls home. With the stanchion of the basket being several feet closer to the baseline than those that players in the NBA are used to, how it passed inspection and was cleared for use is beyond me. What's sad is that it takes something like this to occur before we can question whether or not the base of the basket is safe. In other words, it was an accident waiting to happen and it just so happened to take place on one of the biggest stages.
The game was also supposed to serve as somewhat of a welcome back party for Bulls star point guard Derrick Rose who's endured a number of injuries of his own over the last several seasons and is expected to be at full strength this year. And had it not been for the injury to George, the story of the game at least in my eyes was D.Rose. Rose made a number of turnovers during a stretche where it appeared he was trying to do too much at times, but overall he looked good and displayed the explosiveness that we've all grown to love and expect from the 2011 league MVP when he made a dazzling layup on one play before slamming home a dunk on another. And though it was just a small sample size of what we saw from D.Rose in the limited action he saw on the court, it was enough to convince me that the Chicago Bulls will be serious contenders to win the Eastern Conference this year assuming he stays healthy. It may be a bold statement but with Paul George most likely out for the season in Indiana, the Knicks still being in a mess, the Cavs adjusting to life with LeBron again and Miami now without their best player of the last four seasons, the Bulls can very much contend for a title if D.Rose resembles anything like the 3-time All-Star that dominated his first three seasons in the league from 2010-12.
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Earlier this month while practicing in anticipation of this year's Summer Olympics in London, England, USA Men's Basketball team captain Kobe Bryant opened up a can of worms by saying the 2012 squad could take the 1992 Dream Team. "It would be a tough one but I think we could pull it off," Kobe told reporters in Las Vegas just days before the team took the court against the Dominican Republic. Those comments came much to the dismay of Michael Jordan and his former teammates who didn't hesitate to fire back with comments of their own.
While Jordan questioned Kobe's intelligence by saying, "For Bryant to compare those two teams is not one of the smarter things he ever could have done," it was Charles Bakley who really put the stake in the heart of Team USA by stating other than Kobe, LeBron, and Durant, the rest of the team wouldn't even make the '92 squad. And while I would make a case for Chris Paul who's already been touted as one of the greatest point-guards of all-time, I'd agree with Sir Charles. Regardless of whether or not Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were already past their prime when the two joined forces to bring home a gold medal in the summer of '92, the depth and size of the Dream Team would eat this 2012 team alive in the paint. The trio of Karl Malone, Charles Barkley and David Robinson would out-rebound this current squad and punk Tyson Chandler for his lunch money while Patrick Ewing filmed it. Insert a healthy Dwight Howard into the lineup, however, and this team might stand a chance in the rebound department.
With the Olympics yet to begin, Kobe's comments may have come a bit prematurely as it would take only two games for them to prove this 2012 team is no Dream Team. After winning easily against a John Calipari coached Dominican club by a final of 113-59, they'd have a close call against the Brazilians who almost made it a single-digit loss before eventually falling 80-69. After getting back on track with a 118-78 romp of an inexperienced Great Britain team, the Americans would have another scare, this time against Argentina with the U.S. escaping with only a six-point victory (86-80). Finishing their exhibition schedule against Spain who's ranked #2 in the world only behind the United States and is expected to be the toughest opponent coach K's squad will be up against this summer, Kobe Bryant and co. would have little trouble against his Laker teammate Pau Gasol who witnessed the Americans finish a perfect 5-0 after their 100-78 victory over the Spaniards despite playing on Spain's home turf.
It's no secret that the Dream Team which consisted of 11 Hall of Famers routed their opponents by an unheard of average of 44-points, but the competition back then wasn't as talented as it is now with the exception of a few countries. To the defense of Kobe, since 1992, the rest of the world has only improved on the game of basketball. Not to say the Dream Team wouldn't have won gold with ease in his day and age, but teams would have been a little bit more competitive. Something the Dream Team can't argue as the sport was basically looked upon as extraterrestrial outside of the U.S., as much of the world was still new to the game of basketball. Even Kobe said of team USA's competition, "Look, they are just as competitive as we are, they want to win, they believe that they can win - which is different from '92."
Having earned the distinction of arguably the greatest team ever assembled in the history of sports, MJ and the boys of the '92 squad in Barcelona have reason to be upset. But unless someone hires the dude who put the Tupac hologram together which performed during April's Coachella Music Festival, we'll never hear the end of it and will never truly see how a game played between the two teams would play out. One thing that's certain, however, is that all eyes will be on the Americans. Never has the pressure for a U.S. Men's Basketball team to bring home the gold been this high after Kobe's asinine comments. Hey Kobe, you're my boy and all, but lets see how this team fares during Olympic play before we begin comparing teams to the greatest of all-time, shall we?
Kobe, LeBron, Durant and the rest of the 2012 U.S. Men' Basketball squad will begin their quest for the gold medal on Sunday July 29 against San Antonio's Tony Parker and team France which can be seen on NBC.
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