Amir Johnson joins Team USA for showcase game


There were no Celtics among the 34 NBA players chosen for this summer's Team USA training camp, but with many of the biggest stars sitting out Thursday's USA Basketball Showcase, new Boston power forward Amir Johnson was among those invited to take part. Johnson came off the bench for the blue team, which had Harrison Barnes, Bradley Beal, DeMar DeRozan, Andre Drummond and Kenneth Faried as its starters.

The white team, featuring Michael Carter-Williams, DeMarcus Cousins, Blake Griffin, Kawhi Leonard and Klay Thompson, came away with the 134-128 win at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. As expected, the showcase was something of an All-Star game lite, with plenty of highlight plays and not much defense.

Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant and LeBron James were among the camp attendees who did not play. To fill up the rosters, Johnson was invited along with Houston's Terrence Jones and Orlando's Elfrid Payton.

Johnson showed off the kind of solid play Boston fans can expect from him as he joins the Celtics. In 16:15 on the floor, he made 4-of-7 field goals for eight points and pulled down four rebounds. At +2, he and Payton were the only players on Team Blue with a positive plus/minus.

Johnson even got into the highlight spirit of the game with this reverse dunk off a pass from Victor Oladipo:


Follow Nick García on Twitter @N_A_Garcia

Image credit: Garrett Ellwood/Denver Nuggets
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