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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;LAS VEGAS\u2014The 2015 USA Basketball Showcase ended in the most appropriate way: With Blake Griffin looking to the heavens after missing an uncontested, off-the-backboard alley-oop.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;USAB managing director Jerry Colangelo promised this year\u2019s event, which was voluntary for prospective 2016 Rio Olympic candidates invited to a four-day minicamp this week, would be an \u201Coff-season type of All-Star Game,\u201D and the exhibition lived up\u2014or perhaps down\u2014to that billing. USA White ultimately prevailed Thursday 134\u2013128 over USA Blue at UNLV's Thomas &amp;amp; Mack Center in a lighthearted, easy-going game&amp;nbsp;that was a gumbo of blown dunks, missed three-pointers by big men who shouldn\u2019t be shooting them, and invisible interior defense.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The exhibition was defined more by who didn\u2019t play than who did. The 18 players who suited up didn\u2019t include any previous Olympians, although six members of USA\u2019s gold medal-winning 2014 FIBA World Cup team\u2014DeMarcus Cousins, DeMar DeRozan, Andre Drummond, Kenneth Faried, Rudy Gay, Mason Plumlee and Klay Thompson\u2014did play. All-Stars&amp;nbsp;Dwight Howard and Kyrie Irving were present, but they watched from the bench.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2022&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;MORE NBA:&amp;nbsp;LeBron&amp;nbsp;noncommital&amp;nbsp;on playing Rio&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;Durant sharp at&amp;nbsp;minicamp&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CKyrie wasn\u2019t throwing the alley-oops,\u201D Krzyzewski quipped about the choppy play. \u201CCenters were throwing the alley-oops. We didn\u2019t put in an offense, so don\u2019t judge us.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u200BSo many of the 34 players invited to this week\u2019s minicamp skipped out on the event that USAB organizers had to call on the likes of Amir Johnson, Terrence Jones, Elfrid Payton and Arron Afflalo to help fill out the rosters. The pro-am feel to the affair was completed by the fact that some of the call-ups wore generic USA jerseys that bore numbers but not their last names on the back.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Both teams seemed to take every precaution to avoid injury, and no one could blame them after Paul George\u2019s horrific leg injury ended the 2014 USAB Showcase early. Whereas that game left some of its participants in tears, this year's version was all smiles. Thompson provided one of the highlights of the night by dribbling the ball through DeRozan's legs in transition, Victor Oladipo&amp;nbsp;brought the crowd to its feet with his dunk on Michael Carter-Williams, and Faried drew laughs by standing with his hand on his waist, as if waiting impatiently in line at the supermarket, as he milked the clock down on the first half's final possession.&amp;nbsp;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CTonight was a lot different than a year ago at this time,\u201D&amp;nbsp;Colangelo&amp;nbsp;said, referencing the loss of George. \u201CWe\u2019re thankful and grateful we didn\u2019t have any problems or injuries.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;USA White\u2019s clear talent advantage eventually won out: White fielded three All-Stars (Griffin, Cousins and Thompson) and the top two Defensive Player of the Year finishers (Kawhi Leonard and Draymond Green), while USA Blue had just one All-Star (DeRozan). One could argue that Griffin, Cousins, Thompson, Leonard and Green were the only players in the exhibition with a real shot at landing a spot on the 2016 Olympic roster.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2022 &lt;strong&gt;MORE NBA: Ben&amp;nbsp;Golliver&amp;nbsp;reveals the top 50 games to watch in 2015\u201316&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Griffin, who unsurprisingly emerged as a fan favorite due to his numerous dunks, finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists for USA White, who was led by USAB assistant coach Tom Thibodeau.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cousins led USA White with 24 points and 11 rebounds, but the 6'11'' center drew scattered boos as he missed all six of his three-point attempts. Plumlee added 20 points and 11 rebounds off the bench.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Drummond led USA Blue with a game-high 27 points and 16 rebounds. Oladipo&amp;nbsp;chipped in 25 points, nine rebounds and five assists off the bench for USAB assistant Monty Williams.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Showcase drew 12,211 fans, including former USAB Olympian Steve Smith and the boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr.\r\n\r\n&lt;h3&gt;&lt;strong&gt;GALLERY: Best players ever by jersey number&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u200B\r\n&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/nba/2015/08/14/usa-basketball-showcase-highlights-blake-griffin-demar-derozan-rio-2016-olympics>