Mason Plumlee plays well in Team USA win over Puerto Rico

With final cuts looming, Mason Plumlee played only nine minutes on Friday night vs. Puerto Rico and made the most of it. Plumlee scored four points, two on an alley-oop from DeMarcus Cousins to end the game, grabbed five boards and stole the ball twice as Team USA beat Puerto Rico by 26 at The Garden.

And while Plumlee didn't get much playing time --and had some trouble guarding Puerto Rico's pick-and-roll-- the player who's likely his chief competitor, Andre Drummond, didn't play at all. In fact, if Mike Krzyzewski's rotation mimics his final cuts, it's likely that Drummond, DeMar DeRozan, Gordon Hayward and Damian Lillard will not be boarding the USA Basketball charter bound for Spain Saturday.  Among those who did play and could be headed to Spain were Chandler Parsons and Kyle Korver, both believed to be on the bubble.

The final roster is not officially due until August 29, the day before the World Cup begins but Mike Krzyzewski said the roster will be announced Saturday prior to departure. The Americans play Slovenia in Spain on Tuesday, their final warm-up before they open against Finland in Bilbao, Spain, next weekend.

Plumlee said the experience of going from Nets summer team to the USA Select Team to the cusp of making Team USA has been "nerve-wracking."  Now, he's down to the last day.

Mason Plumlee said it'll be a long 24 hours until he knows if he makes it. Says he expects to hear in the AM. I think he'll get good news.

— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) August 23, 2014

USA Basketball did not say when on Saturday the roster will be announced.

• Boxscore - USA Basketball
  
• After Close First Half, USA Pulls Away From Puerto Rico In Exhibition Win - USA Basketball
• Klay Thompson Buzzer Beater (Video) - USA Basketball
• Stephen Curry No-Look Pass (Video) - USA Basketball
• Rudy Gay's buzzer-beater caps big 3rd quarter, Team USA blows out Puerto Rico (Video) - Eric Freeman - Yahoo! Sports
  
• Team USA braces for Saturday cut day - Marc Stein - ESPN
  
• Derrick Rose plays role of distributor in return for Team USA - Ohm Youngmisuk - ESPN New York
• Derrick Rose looks great for USA in exhibition win over Puerto Rico - Mark Herrmann - Newsday
  
• US beats Puerto Rico 112-86 in hoops exhibition - Brian Mahoney - AP
• These 12 should make USA Basketball’s FIBA World Cup roster - Adi Joseph - USA Today
  
• Mason Plumlee Interview (Video) - Lenn Robbins - Brooklyn Nets