Friday Scrimmage Impressions

Friday Scrimmage Impressions
July 23, 2010 · 6:40PM
Posted by John Schuhmann

LAS VEGAS – Today was the final day of practice here in Vegas. Again, the media was allowed in for the final portion, and we saw the tail end of one 10-minute scrimmage (won by the Senior Team, 29-12) and all of another (won by the Senior Team, 24-20).

Before we get to impressions from the action we saw, here are a few lineups from the first two scrimmages, as tweeted by Sixers PR rep Mike Preston, who was in the gym…

1. Rajon Rondo, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala, Lamar Odom

2. Russell Westbrook, O.J. Mayo, Durant, Rudy Gay, Brook Lopez

3. Chauncey Billups, Curry, Durant, Iguodala, Tyson Chandler

Those last two lineups had a small forward playing the four, but did have a traditional center on the floor.

Here are the lineups we saw when we were allowed in…

4. Rondo, Eric Gordon, Danny Granger, Gerald Wallace, Jeff Green

5. Billups, Gordon, Granger, Wallace, Green

6. Derrick Rose, Gordon, Wallace, Green, JaVale McGee

7. Rose, Gordon, Wallace, Green, Lopez

8. Westbrook, Mayo, Granger, Gay, Lopez

9. Westbrook, Mayo, Granger, Gay, Kevin Love

10. Westbrook, Mayo, Gay, Wallace, Love

11. Rose, Westbrook, Gay, Wallace, Love

12. Rose, Mayo, Wallace, Green, Love

Apologies if the lineups don’t interest you, but I find them pretty fascinating.

Lineup No. 11 was the only one we saw with two point guards on the floor together, but it only was only out there for about a minute of playing time before Mayo came back in for Westbrook.

Granger was the leading scorer in the action we saw, scoring 11 points, with nine of them coming on catch-and-shoot threes (I think he was 3-for-5 from beyon the arc in the action we saw). Mayo had five, Rose had four, Gay had three, Rondo had three, and Gordon and Love had two apiece.

It seems that this team might just live and die with the three. They attempted 13 of them in the 12 minutes of action we saw today. The last two were by bigs Love and Wallace.

Granger obviously recovered well from the shin injury that caused him to sit out yesterday’s scrimmages, and Jerry Colangelo was quick to praise him afterward.

Since I mentioned that Rondo missed two open threes yesterday, I should mention that the first shot we saw today was a (successful) catch-and-shoot three by Rondo.

Love had talked about them switching screens earlier in the week, and I noticed that Wallace switched a screen on Rondo at one point. Lopez also had a couple of very aggressive traps on high screens. On the first, he recovered and challenged a shot at the foul line, but on the second he picked up a foul out top.

Pressure defense also got them one steal in the backcourt, resulting in a Mayo layup. Gay had a pair of deflections on one possession as well.

Tyreke Evans sat out practice once again (he didn’t even have his practice gear on) with his bad ankle, and it’s probably safe to assume that he won’t play tomorrow night.

Here are the rosters for Saturday’s USA Basketball Showcase, which will be televised on ESPN2 at 10 p.m. ET…

Blue: Chauncey Billups, Tyreke Evans, Rudy Gay, Jeff Green, Brook Lopez, Kevin Love, O.J. Mayo, JaVale McGee, Rajon Rondo and Russell Westbrook

White: Tyson Chandler, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Eric Gordon, Danny Granger, Andre Iguodala, Lamar Odom, Derrick Rose and Gerald Wallace.