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talented and famed summer leagues in the country. It didn't disappoint.
For everyone involved, it lived up to its billing as the game to watch this summer, and most likely, for the next year. The players appreciated it and the fans loved it. It didn't disappoint.
"It was hype," said Ty Lawson, who suited up for the victors. "That's what we live for, those moments."
Lawson could have been talking about any moment in the game. Durant's game-winning free throw? Sure. A vi- cious slam by DeMarcus Cousins? That too. Or maybe he was referencing Durant and his Thunder teammate Harden going toe-to-toe the entire game.
And then there was John Wall, perhaps the second-best player in this game, go- ing end-to-end at lightning-quick speed and lobbing a pass to Durant for a dunk. The list of highlight-reel plays and "mo- ments" could go on and on.
During a time when the future of NBA basketball is in question, this game gave the players and fans everything they could have asked for – excitement, star players, and most of all, the game itself. It doesn't get any better than what went down in Trinity University's Division III- sized gymnasium on that summer day.
THERE WAS ONLY ONE MAN for the job. Just one man that Goodman League fans across Washington, D.C. could lay all the pressure on. And boy did that man deliver.
But flashback 21.5 seconds. Kevin Durant stands on the foul line, ready to shoot a free throw to tie the game. The Goodman League is down 134-133, and these two shots represent what is likely D.C.'s final chance to win or tie the game. Durant shoots the first one. Swish. He takes a second free throw for the lead. Swish again. Goodman League up 135-134. Everyone's on their feet.
But the game isn't over yet. The Drew League still has a chance. They race down court, and Brandon Jennings takes a shot. Clank. James Harden makes his way to the basketball and heaves a potential game-winning buzzer beater. But it's partially blocked by Durant. Game over. The Goodman League wins.
This is deliverance from Kevin Durant. This game had his name written all over it. Durant is the obvious face of the Good- man League and was, not surprisingly,
the best player in the game.
"When he hit the game-winning free throw it was just icing on the cake," said Miles Rawls, Goodman League commis- sioner. "He put the rest of the league on notice for sure."
When the Los Angeles-based Drew League came to the nation's capital on Aug. 20 for a game dubbed "Capital Punish- ment," the matchup figured to be an epic battle between two of arguably the most
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"It was real crazy," said Goodman League regular Hugh "Baby Shaq" Jones. It was Jones who, along with Durant, got per- haps the most cheers from the D.C. crowd whenever he touched the ball. "It was the best fantasy basketball game I ever was a part of."
It was a game that had nothing to do with the NBA, minus the players. But what did it matter? It was a basketball game, plain and simple. These guys are basketball players. A game's a game.
Added Jones: "It's the best thing going on right now."
With Durant, Wall, Cousins, Lawson and Baby Shaq starting for the Goodman League, and Harden, Jennings, DeMar DeRozan, JaVale McGee and Craig Smith starting for the Drew League, the game featured a crop of some of the best young basketball talent in the country.
There was no LeBron, no Dwyane Wade and no Kobe. This game featured the future of the League, the young guys. And at the end of it, not surprisingly, Durant appeared poised to take over the crown as one of the top players in the NBA, leading a cast of Goodman League