Team USA officials: T&M court was safe for game during which George broke leg

Was Paul George’s injury during the USA Basketball Showcase caused by the court setup at the Thomas & Mack Center? Or was it simply a case of athletic misfortune?

Team USA officials said the court was safe and the space from the basket stanchion to the baseline was adequate, and that the broken right leg George suffered was a matter of bad luck.

The Indiana Pacers’ star guard was resting comfortably Saturday at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center after undergoing successful surgery late Friday to repair an open tibia-fibula fracture. He is expected to be hospitalized through the weekend and return to Indianapolis on Monday.

No timetable was announced for his recovery, as doctors wanted to wait and see how George responds in the next couple of days before issuing a prognosis for his return.

However, Paul George Sr. told The Indianapolis Star that doctors think his son will make a full recovery and eventually return to the level of play that has made him a two-time All-Star.

“If it had to break, it broke the right way,” George Sr. told the newspaper. “It broke evenly, so they’re saying he should be back 100 percent.”

George, 24, was one of 20 players on the court Friday attempting to secure a position on Team USA’s final 12-man roster for the FIBA World Cup, which begins Aug. 30 in Spain. The Blue-White intrasquad scrimmage was terminated 27 seconds into the fourth quarter after George, playing for the Blue, tried to block James Harden’s layup attempt and landed awkwardly, his leg buckling.

After being attended to by trainers, doctors and paramedics for 15 minutes, George was wheeled off the court on a stretcher with the White team ahead 81-71.

A USA Basketball spokesman said Saturday the placement of the basket in relation to the baseline was not an issue in relation to George’s injury.

“The safety of the players is of the utmost importance,” he said. “We’ve been playing on this court since 2006 without incident. We’ve never had a serious injury before Friday.”

According to the NBA, which did not have jurisdiction over Friday’s game, a minimum of 4 feet is recommended from the base of the stanchion to the baseline, though most modern NBA arenas have 6 to 8 feet of separation.

ESPN said the width at the Thomas & Mack was 2 feet, 2 inches. But officials said the distance between the basket and the baseline was 3 feet, 11 inches, 1 inch shy of the recommended distance.

Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski refused to assign blame to the injury.

“Anything can happen anywhere; a lot of things happen,” Krzyzewski said Friday. “Tonight it happened during a basketball game.

“We need to take care of that. It doesn’t mean it’ll happen again and again and again; it means that it happened right now. And we need to take care of right now appropriately and then move on.”

Pacers president Larry Bird said in a statement Saturday the team remains supportive of USA Basketball.

“Our first thoughts are with Paul and his family,” Bird said. “It is way too early to speculate on his return, as the No. 1 priority for everyone will be his recovery. Our initial discussions with our doctors and the doctors in Las Vegas have us very optimistic. We are hopeful at some point next week Paul will return to Indianapolis to continue his recovery.

“There is no question about the impact on our team, but our goal is to be as strong-willed and determined as Paul will be in coming back. Any discussion regarding the future of our team would be inappropriate at this time. Our focus is solely on Paul and doing whatever we can to help. We still support USA Basketball and believe in the NBA’s goals of exposing our game, our teams and players worldwide. This is an extremely unfortunate injury that occurred on a highly visible stage, but could also have occurred anytime, anywhere.”

George’s Team USA teammates didn’t speak to the media after the game, but several expressed their sorrow on their Twitter accounts.

Harden: “Prayers go out to @Paul_George24 and his family! Keep ya head up G!”

Kevin Durant: “God bless u my brother @Paul_George24. I’m hurt, praying for you. Praying for peace. Praying that God heals you in a supernatural way.”

Anthony Davis: “Man everybody please pray for my big bro PG! Keep his spirits up! We here for you @Paul_George24.”

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.