McGee is a 7-footer with a ridiculous 7-6.5 wingspan, which is equal to the height of Yao Ming. He showcased that wingspan during the 2011 Sprite Slam Dunk contest by dunking two basketballs on two baskets standing side by side. McGee also has a 31-inch vertical leap, and is so athletic that he can dip a cookie into a glass of milk sitting atop the backboard. Now, he can just put together back-to-back good games then we’ll be talking about McGee as a serious force in the NBA instead of being a regular on Shaquille O’Neal’s “Shaqtin the Fool” segments on TNT and NBATV.

Denver Nuggets center JaVale McGee (right) won his one-on-one matchup with L.A. Lakers All-Star center Andrew Bynum in Game 5 of the Lakers-Nuggets playoff series. (GETTY IMAGES)

Andrew Bynum’s mouth may have cost the Lakers a victory in Game 5. Prior to Los Angeles’ potential close-out game against the Denver Nuggets, the Lakers All-Star center said close-out games are “actually kinda easy” because teams “tend to fold in you come out and play hard in the beginning.”

Well, well, well. Guess who used that as bulletin-board material? The Nuggets. As it turned out, it was the Nuggets who came out and played hard in the beginning, taking it to the Lakers in the first quarter to jump out to an early lead and never looked back. Denver’s 102-99 victory Tuesday night in L.A. denied the Lakers – who appeared to have already moved on and had their minds set on Oklahoma City in the next round – an opportunity to close out the series. Now, the Lakers will have to travel back to Denver for a Game 6, and if the Nuggets win at home they’ll force a Game 7.

Rookie forward Kenneth Faried (10 points, nine rebounds) set the tone when he outran the Lakers big men from the outset and then center JaVale McGee finished off the job when he played like a monster in the fourth quarter.

In 32 minutes off the bench, McGee grabbed a team-high 14 rebounds and scored 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting, including four powerful dunks – two off lobs from guard Andre Miller. After the game McGee said the Nuggets used Bynum’s pregame boast gave the Nuggets extra motivation.

“It just made us play harder than the game before. Everybody on our team was rebounding. It wasn’t just me and Faried,” said the 7-foot McGee, who thoroughly outplayed Bynum.

“Coach put it on the film,” McGee said of Bynum’s quote. “That was the last thing we saw on the film. Andre [Miller] gave an emotional speech and we just went out there and played hard.”

Miller was the other bench player that gave Denver a huge lift, as the veteran point guard led the way with 24 points on 8-of-11 shooting and dished out eight assists. He also put on some incredible moves that would have made every old YMCA player proud, showing the younger players that there is still plenty of gas left in his 36-year-old tank.

When a reporter asked Bryant if Bynum’s quote bit the Lakers in Game 5, he said: “That’s true. Close-out games can be easy sometimes. But tonight wasn’t one of those nights. I don’t think it made a difference. Did it pump them up? Yeah, probably. Would they have come out and play with that kind of energy? Yeah, probably. We didn’t execute, and they obviously played harder than we did. That’s a lesson to learn. You never want to give anybody bulletin material.”

“We didn’t play with the kind of effort that we should. Our supporting cast has to help out, Pau [Gasol] and Andrew [Bynum] in particular,” said, Bryant, who scored a game-high 43 points and nearly brought the Lakers all the way back with some remarkable 3-point shooting in the fourth quarter. But he missed his last two 3-point shots and the Nuggets hung on for the win.

“It sucks, but it’s not the end of the world,” Bryant said. “Nothing surprises me about this game anymore. I’m disappointed, but there’s nothing you can do about it now.”

Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star forward and Washington, D.C. product Kevin Durant has been on a tear this summer, but his OKC teammate Los Angeles native James Harden has been straight up ballin too.

Harden, who attended Artesia High School (Calif.), went head-to-head with Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant and held his own. But Kobe got the last shot over Harden, hitting the game-winner at the buzzer during a Drew League game in L.A.

On Sunday night at the Long Beach Pyramid, the 6-foot-5 Harden, wearing the colors of the L.A.-based Drew League, was matched up with his good friend Durant. Others who participated in the Drew-Goodman exhibition game were Washington Wizards standouts John Wall, JaVale McGee and Nick Young, Milwaukee Bucks guard Brandon Jennings, Golden State Warriors forward Dorell Wright, Houston Rockets forward Trevor Ariza, Toronto Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan, Memphis Grizzlies forward Rudy Gay, Minnesota Timberwolves forward Michael Beasley and Lakers forward Matt Barnes.

For those who were keeping score at home, Team Drew featured all the L.A. boys (minus Baron Davis and Paul Pierce): Harden, Ariza, McGee, Barnes, Jennings, DeRozan, Wright and Young. Representing the Washington, D.C.-based Goodman team were Durant, Wall, Beasley, Gay. Wall dropped a game-high 55 points and Durant had 50. However, it was the L.A. boys – led by Harden’s 48 points – who prevailed in the end. For one night, L.A. hoops hold center court. Final score: Drew 151, Goodman 144.

Blake Griffin soars over the hood of a car during the NBA Slam Dunk Contest during All-Star Saturday Night. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

JaVale McGee was robbed! Not to take anything away from Blake Griffin, who had his moments during All-Star Saturday Night, but McGee’s dunks were far more difficult than what Griffin did for the whole event. I’ll even go a step further and argue that Serge Ibaka and DeMar DeRozan had more impressive dunks than Griffin.

I know Griffin was already anointed the dunk champion even before the competition began with all the hype that surrounded him prior to All-Star Weekend, and some of the hype was deserved, but Griffin’s performance didn’t exactly put him into the top 10 of all-time dunks in my humble opinion.

However, McGee’s trick of dunking on two baskets may have cracked my top 10. It’s not Vince Carter good, but it certainly deserves a lot more credit. I mean, the man dunked on two baskets standing side by side. I bet Blake Griffin can’t do that. McGee’s degree of difficulty was far more superior than Griffin’s or anyone else in the competition.

And McGee admitted that Ibaka stole one of his dunks during the early round, which threw off his game plan (that probably explains the poor effort in his final attempt). If the dunk McGee was referring to was anything close to what he was practicing, it would have been nice. Watch the video:

Griffin’s car dunk received the most attention because it was cool, and Kenny Smith certainly persuaded the judges with his Al Sharpton moment when he brought out the choir and riled up the crowd.

Jumping over a car is good, but not great. It’s been done before. Check out YouTube and you’ll know what I mean. I bet McGee, DeRozan and Ibaka could have cleared the hood of the car as well. And besides, Griffin jumped over the hood of the car, which is not the same as jumping over the top of the car, and he didn’t exactly finish with a lot of power and flair.

DeRozan did a dunk he called “the showstopper” was more impressive than Griffin’s car dunk in which he caught a ball with one hand, ducked under the rim and slammed it on the other side in one motion. Ibaka’s behind-the-free-throw-line dunk was more impressive than Griffin’s car dunk, and even Ibaka’s teddy-bear-stuck-in-the-rim-dunk had more flair and creativity.

The dunk contest was lively and entertaining, which is what it should be. More props, more drama. However, I think the judges and the people who were voting on TV and texting were somewhat persuaded by the power of the Blake Griffin hype machine and didn’t give enough credit to the awesome creative dunks by McGee, Ibaka and DeRozan.

If I had to pick a winner, it would have been JaVale McGee. One more look at McGee’s spectacular dunk.

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter at: Twitter.com/onemanfastbreak.

Memphis Grizzlies guard O.J. Mayo was among four players cut from Team USA. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

USA Basketball President Jerry Colangelo and head coach Mike Krzyzewski have trimmed the U.S. roster to 15 players, which meant four players were cut.

Those who were left off the 15-man roster were guards Tyreke Evans and O.J. Mayo, forward Gerald Wallace and center JaVale McGee were cut. Evans could have made it the final 12-man roster that will represent Team USA at the FIBA World Championships in Turkey, but he missed most of training camp with a sprained ankle. The 2010 NBA Rookie of the Year will get another chance in two years for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Because Team USA was already loaded with guards, there was simply no room for a guy like Mayo. The Memphis Grizzlies shooting guard doesn’t really have a specialty and is more of a volume shooter. Coach K and his staff chose to keep shooting guards Eric Gordon, Danny Granger and Andre Iguodala instead.

Wallace could have filled the role of defensive stopper, but his limited offensive skills probably kept him from wearing the USA colors. Coach K and Co. didn’t want to sacrifice a top-notch guard for a small forward with limited range, and Wallace would have been overmatched at power forward.

McGee was a late invite to training camp in Las Vegas after Amare Stoudemire didn’t bother to show up and Robin Lopez has not completely healed from his back injury. Then, two days into camp, forward David Lee dislocated his finger and had to drop out, which gave McGee a glimmer of hope to make the roster.

Despite playing well in the scrimmage showcase at Thomas & Mack Center, McGee was let go as Coach K chose to keep Tyson Chandler and Brook Lopez, two players with a little more playing experience than the 22-year-0ld Wizards center. But the future is very bright for McGee, who dominated the Las Vegas Summer League and should be the Wizards starting center heading into this season. Lopez didn’t particularly play well in the scrimmage, but the 7-foot center is one of the few legit post-up players in camp and the team desperately needs big bodies.

“We do want to see how Brook Lopez looks after two weeks of getting himself in shape,” Colangelo told reporters. “He knows he struggled, he’s disappointed in his performance, but he wants this opportunity and when somebody has that kind of an attitude you’re going to give him a little bit of rope.”

Named as finalists for the USA World Championship Team include: Chauncey Billups (Denver Nuggets); Chandler (Dallas Mavericks); Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors); Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder); Rudy Gay (Memphis Grizzlies); Gordon (Los Angeles Clippers); Granger (Indiana Pacers); Jeff Green (Oklahoma City Thunder); Iguodala (Philadelphia 76ers); Lopez (New Jersey Nets); Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves); Lamar Odom (Los Angeles Lakers); Rajon Rondo (Boston Celtics); Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls); and Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder).

Team USA will take a short break before reopening camp on Aug. 9. The team plays an exhibition game on Aug. 15 against France at Madison Square Garden in New York. It’s the first of four exhibition games for Team USA before it leaves for Turkey. USA Basketball doesn’t need to announce its 12-man roster until a day before the World Championship, which begins Aug. 28.