In the unlikely event that you've never seen Zion Williamson dunk a basketball, Friday night's NBA Rising Stars Game would probably have been an eye-opener. For those who have, the real eye-opener was the impressive play of the Canadians on the floor.
Despite the game eventually devolving into an impromptu dunk contest, Team World put up a fight in the first half, and that was largely due to the play of the four participating Canucks. RJ Barrett led all scorers with 27 points, while Brandon Clarke finished with 22 (and could have had more if not for a missed reverse windmill in the final seconds). Shai Gilgeous-Alexander tallied 16, while Nickeil Alexander-Walker ended with six.
That's 71 combined points, more than half of Team World's output in a 151-131 loss to Team USA. That's not bad, considering the four Canadians were sharing the ball with phenoms like Luka Doncic and were going up against bona fide superstars including Williamson and Trae Young.
The compatriots relished the chance to play together against some of America's best, even though the game — which featured very little defense — ended in a blowout.
"It's great," Barrett said before the game. "I've got Shai and Nickeil here, we've been boys for a while, and we've got Brandon Clarke here, too, so it's great just to have friendly faces in here."
"It's super cool just to see how far Canadian basketball has come," Gilgeous-Alexander said pregame. "There's guys from all over, myself being from Hamilton (Ont.), Nickeil being from Scarborough (Ont.), RJ from Mississauga (Ont.) and Brandon from (Vancouver) B.C."
Shai, Nickeil, RJ & Clarke discuss their excitement on playing for @CanBball! 🇨🇦 #NBAAllStar | #NBARisingStars pic.twitter.com/hc93CcLEUw
— NBA Canada (@NBACanada) February 14, 2020
For stretches of the first half, all four were in the game at the same time. Team World coach Adrian Griffin enjoyed seeing the Canucks on the floor together.
"It's just something really cool to have four Canadians on the floor at one time," he said. "I've been in the league for 20 years. I remember there was a time where you would play Toronto, and you would pencil in a 'W.' You go to Toronto now, it's going to be hard to win there. So it's awesome just to see how the league is changing, how teams are just getting better, and the players are fantastic now."
Clarke spoke of the pride he took in playing with his countrymen.
"I would say it's very, very special," he said. "It's also really big for our country, so I'm just really grateful to be able to play with them and rep our country, because basketball is getting bigger and bigger there. It's really cool that the kids back at home will be able to watch us and see that."
SN's Jordan Greer contributed to this report.
