The scene this past Saturday was typically D.C. A packed gym, representative of city demographics with basketball interest, served as the tiniest of temporary meccas for the basketball world.
"Welcome to D.C." by Mambo Sauce blasted on the speakers and hands went in the air. One shirt read: "I'm taking my talents to..." followed by the red bars and three stars of the District of Columbia flag. If it wasn't at the local basketball court -- the most associated being the plot at Anacostia's Barry Farm Recreation Center -- then the cozy sports facility of a liberal arts women's college, Trinity University in northeast Washington, would certainly do.
"Capital Punishment" billed some of the top basketball players from the area (with Maryland's Prince George's Country being part of Washington's talent pool), particularly those who have participated in D.C.'s famed Goodman League (a summer street basketball league played at those Barry Farm outdoor courts) versus some of the best talent Los Angeles could provide. The West Coast team was represented by L.A.'s Drew League.
The game was turned down by big networks, afraid of crossing their various relationships with the NBA. But with the league's players currently locked out and its courts devoid of any activity -- nor would there be much action from NBA players anyway; it's just that most are anticipating an extended work stoppage -- scores of others had no problem with providing first hand accounts of the much-hyped action.
Understandably, Mayor Vincent Gray received a smattering of boos when he was introduced and handed the mic by the night's master of ceremonies, Miles Rawls, commissioner of the Goodman League and recently anointed king of summer hoops. The boos for Gray didn't exactly turn to hisses, but there were certainly no cheers to contend for balance. The awkwardness of the scene was complete when Gray tossed out the ceremonial jump ball.
The moment didn't, however, serve as a bad omen. The Goodman team won a back and fourth game, 135-134. It came down to the last possession, the visitors getting a chance to steal the show but falling short on two game-winning attempts. The crowd was entertained by back-and-forth action, dazzling dunks, breakneck speeds, and some good-to-honest moxie and defense -- not to mention Rawls' antics on the mic. (Rawls, if you recall, once famously heckled President Obama at a Wizards-Bulls game in the Verizon Center.)
Despite the down-home District atmosphere and extracurriculars surrounding the play, the players actually took the game seriously. Bragging rights from the West Coast to the East Coast were on the line, after all.
Hometown hero Kevin Durant represented a reprieve from both Gray and Redskins angst, even if town's polarizing NFL team currently looks good in games that do not count. Although Durant doesn't play for the Washington Wizards, rather the Oklahoma City Thunder, the crowd showed that watching locally cultivated basketball talent -- the likes of a former rookie of the year, an NBA all-first teamer and the youngest scoring champ in league history -- could bring happiness equivalent to the Monday morning after a 'Skins win.
Durant, fittingly dawning Redskins-colored Nike shoes, scored 44 points, took home the M.V.P. award and, more importantly, sank the game-winning free-throws with 21.5 seconds left. (Cue the go-go music and the after party at Love nightclub.)
In total, around a dozen currently locked-out NBA players found their way onto the holy Catholic campus between Franklin Street and Michigan Avenue NE. Wizards No. 1 draft pick John Wall, his University of Kentucky teammate DeMarcus Cousins (Sacramento Kings), Gary Neal (San Antonio Spurs), Ty Lawson (Denver Nuggets), and Josh Selby (Memphis Grizzlies) suited up for D.C.'s team. Brandon Jennings (Milwaukee Bucks), James Harden (Thunder), DeMar DeRozan (Toronto Raptors), Craig Smith (L.A. Clippers), Pooh Jeter (Kings) and JaVale McGee of the Wizards dressed for the L.A. team. Other players on each team included local legends and those with various professional experience, including Team Drew's Brandon Bowman, who grew up in Los Angeles but played collegiate-level ball locally at Georgetown, Hugh "Baby Shaq" Jones (the much-touted Goodman League/And-1 street baller), and Omar Weaver of Coolidge High and Goodman League fame. (Weaver had to turn himself in on carjacking charges last March, but he got some quality run with the D.C. squad on Saturday.)
L.A. native Nick Young, a restricted free agent with the Wizards, didn't play in the event due to a mysterious miscommunication. Several other big names in professional basketball, including 2011 No. 2 draft pick Derrick Williams (Team Drew), PG County's Michael Beasley (Team Goodman), and even the much vaunted Kobe Bryant (Team Drew), swirled around as rumored participants, but none of them actually showed.
Fans and ticket holders had trouble getting into arena -- said to hold 1,600 for basketball -- in a timely fashion, some being turned away and thus angrily feeling on the short end of an oversold event. Organizers have doled out promises of a refund, along with speculative claims of rampant counterfeiting, another classically Washingtonian concept. This all could lead one to believe that some of the counterfeiters might have been attendees. Still, not much could put a damper on an exhibition game held in the nation's capital, on the receiving end of basketball interest nationwide, if not the world.
Meanwhile, summertime hoops carries on just the same at D.C.'s Barry Farm, weather permitting. One can follow the Twitter account of @Inside_da_Gates for information on the games, which are held several times per week and feature the best basketball talent in the DMV -- which, as anyone will readily admit, can compete with the best across the country. At this point, the Goodman playoffs is entering the home stretch.
"If the NBA wants to be stubborn, you always got the Drew League and the Goodman League to make it happen," said Drew League Commissioner Dino Smiley after the exhibition game. Smiley says he hopes to schedule a rematch between the two teams in Los Angeles on September 10. Thanks to stars like Durant leading the organization effort and players partially self-funding their presence at Capital Punishment, basketball passion in the District has become further magnified, and so it might not be the last Washington sees of such affairs, especially if signs grow that the entire 2011-12 NBA season might be cancelled.
Hopefully next time, with more sponsor support and a larger venue and less ticket controversy, love for the game of basketball can be served like it deserves be, not as a victim of a bitter dispute between billionaire owners and millionaire players.
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