In the first real basketball event of this weekend’s New York City All-Star festivities, the World beat the USA 121-112 in the revamped BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge at Barclays Center last night.
This year’s game was the first in which American rookie and sophomores played together against their foreign counterparts from around the world. The game used to consist of rookies playing against the sophomores but was changed for the 2015 version, which saw the US team get beaten in its own sport by a world team led by Minnesota’s Andrew Wiggins (22 points) and even Brooklyn’s own Bojan Bogdanovic, who went 6-of-10 from the field for 16 points off the bench.
The Nets’ Mason Plumlee played for the US team, nearly netting a double-double (13 points, nine boards) as a reserve. The Magic’s Victor Oladipo and Wiggins’ Timberwolves teammate Zach LaVine each scored 22 to pace the Americans, who were in this game for much of the first half but faded away late as Wiggins, Utah’s Rudy Gobert and Chicago’s Nikola Mirotic–along with Bojan–took over.
With the game played at the Nets’ Brooklyn home, it couldn’t be better for the organization that Bojan and Mason stepped up to the plate with big performances on a national stage.
During a shaky and inconsistent rookie campaign in a new country, Bogdanovic needs as much confidence as he can get, as the season nears the stretch run. There’s no better way to do that than knock down a bunch of threes in the Rising Stars Challenge against some of the NBA’s top young players. He’s been playing better lately for the Nets but maybe a night like that helps him permanently turn a corner.
Meanwhile, Plumlee probably didn’t need much of a confidence boost from yesterday’s game, although he definitely still got one regardless. After a slow start to his 2014-15 season, Mason has been great for a few months now and, other than his abysmal free throw shooting, has developed into a decent offensive player, notwithstanding his explosive dunking ability. Now, he has some post moves but has yet to form a solid 15-footer that would really send his value skyrocketing.
His rebounding has remained strong, even if he takes the occasional night off, while his interior defense (two blocks in the game) and passing (three assists) have made significant strides during his second NBA season.
At Barclays, Mason put on an overall show and, along with Bojan’s notable play, finally gave Nets fans something to be excited about, even though it didn’t stem from an actual game that counts in the standings.
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