Grizzlies forward battles for spot on national team

By Rob Miech

Sunday, July 26, 2009 | 2:05 a.m.

It wasn’t just a middle-of-the-summer pick-up basketball game with some friends and a few acquaintances to Rudy Gay.

Saturday night at the Thomas & Mack Center, the former Connecticut star and forward for the Memphis Grizzlies showed how much he wants to be part of the U.S. senior national team.

He scored a game-best 27 points in 27 minutes, but that didn’t soothe him after his White squad squandered an eight-point lead in the first half and lost a Showcase scrimmage, 100-81, to the Blue team.

“I’m still mad we lost that lead,” Gay said. “We had a pretty good lead but couldn’t finish it. Things happen.”

Trailing 81-69 in the fourth quarter, he tallied 12 consecutive points to get the White team within 87-81 with 2 minutes, 47 seconds remaining.

However, a crowd of 6,427 didn’t see Gay’s team score again.

“We were down, man,” he said of his flurry. “I was trying to get us back in it. Whatever it takes.”

Gay might have convinced USA Basketball Chairman Jerry Colangelo and Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski that they should take him along to Turkey next summer.

That’s where the next World Championship will be staged, and the mini-camp in Las Vegas over the past few days served as an indoctrination into the Team USA system for 20 or so young NBA players.

Only a few spots figure to be available for next summer’s team, since Kobe Bryant and LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, and the rest of last year’s Olympic gold medalists, have locks on their positions.

At best, two or three role players will be needed. At worst, half a dozen of Saturday’s players could wind up as alternates next summer or for the Olympics in London in 2012.

Remember these players, though, because many figure to be in the senior national system through 2014 and 2016.

By the tone of most of Saturday’s game, though, fans might have thought these players were jousting for the five starting positions in Turkey.

“That’s what I like,” Gay said. “During the summer, there aren’t many things that can challenge you the way USA Basketball did this week. It’s great for me. Something I can take back to Memphis.

“International ball is just a different game. I like it. I like contact. I like all that stuff. I’d just love to be a part of it.”

Gay knows about international hoops, since he was part of junior national squads that played in Argentina and France. What he didn’t know about were the demands of the senior national team.

He discovered that in the first drill of the mini-camp, at Valley on Thursday. The drill demanded defense, but Gay’s unit couldn’t get a stop. They huddled and said that’s it.

“That turned it around,” he said.

Kevin Love, who played for the Blue team, marveled at the 6-foot-8 Gay’s ability to play every position but center.

“He’s long and athletic. He shoots the ball and he plays defense; he does everything out there on the court,” Love said. “I bet that eventually makes him an all-star-caliber player.”

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Kevin Durant seemed to be the one favorite to receive a future Team USA invite. He led everyone Friday in 30 minutes of Valley High scrimmages with 15 points.

Saturday, Durant led the Blue squad with 20 points and 8 rebounds in 23 minutes. He also had four assists and no turnovers, figures that Colangelo and Krzyzewski will notice.

Gay, however, was on the radar. He tallied 11 points Friday, hitting four of his final five shots. Saturday, he nailed 11 of his 12 attempts, grabbed 4 rebounds, stole 3 passes and dished out 2 assists.

“He shot the ball very well,” said White teammate O.J. Mayo. “He played hard. It’s always fun playing against Rudy. I always learn things from him. He’s been like a big brother to me since I was in the 10th or 11th grade.”

Krzyzewski said he saw and felt “a lot of electricity” in the building in the second half. “You could see they all wanted it,” he said.

It was apparent how much Mayo and Gay wanted to will their team to the win, leave Las Vegas with some glory and convince Team USA brass that they deserve future invitations.

Mayo hit 3-pointers on three consecutive possessions early in the fourth quarter to cut the White deficit to 77-69, and that’s when Gay took over.

He hit a jumper, slipped in for a rebound and put-back, canned a 3-pointer from the left side, sailed high for a jam off a turnover and sank a 3-pointer from the right side.

With 2:47 left, however, the White team’s tank was on empty.

“Hopefully, I showed enough to make the team,” Gay said. “It means a lot to me. I’m definitely hungry. I still think of some things I have to work on, but I think I pretty much showed what I have worked on.”