After much anticipation, Capital Punishment finally took place this past Saturday evening in the Nation’s capital and The Hoop Doctors were in the building. Although tip time was scheduled for 6:30, all media were asked to arrive by 3:30, presumably to lessen the chaos that would inevitably ensue. I arrived at Trinity University in Northwest DC right at 3:30 and walking up to the building, you could already see the line of people wrapping around the corner. Three hours before the game!
Once inside, we were pointed to where media would be stationed for the game, so we camped out to get a good view. The stands were pretty empty at that point with no sign of any of the players in Capital Punishment yet. On the court, however, were two teams at opposite ends of the floor warming up. It turned out that those were two local AAU teams that would serve as the undercard for the main event. Basketball is basketball, so I was glued to the game.
It was a very competitive game and contained a bunch of clean, but hard fouls. There were also many dunks and missed dunks as well. The missed dunks were a result of these young ballers trying to throw it down even though there wasn’t enough room to do so. One player even tried to bounce it to himself on a fast break, so that he could catch it in the air and dunk it. However, there was a defender right behind him who thwarted that attempt. The game actually ended in a tie at 77 apiece. Because the clocks do not stop at that juncture of the game, time kept ticking away and that’s how it ended.
But prior to the end of that game, the first Capital Punishment player made an appearance: Baby Shaq who is widely known from the And 1 Mixtape Tour. Soon thereafter, there was James Harden and DeMar DeRozan sitting courtside as well. I barely recognized Harden because his hat was so low, but the beard was a dead giveaway. Towards the end of the AAU game, John Wall made his way courtside as well and was immediately swarmed by people wanting to either take a picture of or with him. Before you knew it, JaVale McGee was visible and so was Ty Lawson. But the party officially began when Kevin Durant showed up courtside in the closing minutes of the AAU game. He had a Beatle-like presence. He was swarmed even more than Wall was.
These guys were all in street clothes and the announcer eventually asked Drew League and Goodman League players to head to the locker room. As they were doing that, I was able to see that Andre Miller, Rudy Gay and Delonte West were also in attendance. By this time, the place was packed. I walked over to the window to get a glimpse of the line outside and there were still plenty of people out there. Apparently, many of them already had tickets to the game. I’d say roughly 1,000 people never made it inside.
The teams emerged from the locker room for their layup lines. Even though he was now in uniform, KD came out with his trusty backpack on. I seriously thought he was going to warm up with it on, but that wasn’t the case. Starting lineups and the Star Spangled Banner later, it was showtime. Drew League won the opening tip and the ball landed in Brandon Jennings’ hands who took one dribble down court before throwing a lob to JaVale McGee. Three seconds in and we had our first highlight. That was a precursor of things to come. Every time Durant got the ball early on, the crowd went crazy. He had a couple of dunks in the first quarter and caught a long alley-oop from John Wall. He also spotted up for threes from Jimmer-like distance.
Guys were playing defense, because no one wants to get embarrassed on that stage, but it wasn’t necessarily stifling defense as Goodman held a 40 – 34 lead after the first quarter. One interesting matchup was between Goodman’s Baby Shaq (the only non-NBA starter) and Drew’s Craig Smith. Both guys are solid with a low center of gravity, so whenever one got the ball, the crowd got loud, in anticipation of these two guys going at it.
James Harden was going hard at Durant, and the two even shoved each other a couple of times. Playfully of course, considering they are co-workers in real life. John Wall had a couple of nice moves in the half court, getting by defenders. Following most of his buckets, he would run back on defense with his arms out giving a very MJ-esque shrug. Another interesting battle was between DeMarcus Cousins (who was hilariously dubbed “bad attitude” by the announcer) and JaVale McGee. Early on, Cousins got the best of McGee, scoring a couple of buckets in a row to get the crowd going.
Goodman led for much of the game with their largest margin being 15. But in the fourth quarter, the game became very close. Brandon Jennings took over for the Drew (Who was without Nick Young. During the game, the announcer said Young boycotted the game because he wasn’t named Drew League MVP), connecting on several consecutive buckets and the Compton native even did a mini dance to “California Love” which was played after many Drew buckets, while at the free throw line.
The majority of the fourth quarter was very close and with 21.5 seconds remaining, Kevin Durant went to the line for two, making both, giving the Goodman the 135 – 134 lead. So with the shotclock now turned off, Drew had the ball with the chance to win. Brandon Jennings walked the ball up court and hit John Wall with a step-back before attempting a three that hit front iron. Drew’s James Harden grabbed the rebound with only a few seconds remaining, with Kevin Durant draped all over him. Harden tried pump-faking the taller KD to get him in the air, but he never budged. Harden then had no choice to but attempt the shot that was partially blocked by Durant. Ballgame. 135 – 134 Goodman. Durant and his 44 points were named MVP. The players greeted some fans on the court but for the most part, made their way to the locker room pretty quickly. I will say that they were all very receptive to the fans wanting to meet/take a picture with them. It was a good showing in that regard.
If you’re looking for your everyday, predictable basketball talk, then go somewhere else, because Kevin Burke of The Kevin Burke Project brings provocative, thought provoking content about basketball as only he can. Kevin also hosts The Hoop Doctors weekly podcast show, which you can subscribe to for free on iTunes. Follow Kevin on Twitter and Facebook
