Do not even tell me Lance Stephenson isn't No. 1 in '09.

Tyreke Evans was unstoppable going to the rim. I don't think he set one person up, and his shot was off, but he got it whenever he wanted and score is what he's going to get paid to do.

Brandon Jennings made the game flow. His shot was on point from deep when he took it and he made second-option passes scoreable. Keep hating on him but he keeps getting it done and did it in the one setting where all the best were. An inflated 20+ assists from the man on the microphone was the total they gave, but the real 17 he had were nice enough to be 30.

And Lance Stephenson was a beast. Nobody could hold him. He was the best player on the court. 38 points? He didn't miss much either. He made light work of your favorite player. We could run down the roster and he want at them - Tyreke Evans, Xavier Henry, Sylven Landesberg, they all felt the wrath and got a look at that trademark scowl from the beast from the east.

And those three guys put on a show to write home about.

Everybody came to play. Even with all that talent, a game can easily not live up to expectations. But those three players took it to another level and it was great to see everybody else not glory hog and jack shots while the MVPs were in the middle of something.

The game was a rare opportunity to see certain guys go one-on-one. And it was great because there was a lot of trickery and not a lot of sloppiness.

It was the four MVPs that had the most intriguing matchups people were thinking about in a game like this.

Tyreke Evans vs. Lance Stephenson and Brandon Jennings vs. Jrue Holiday.

Tyreke and Lance was something else. Both of them have ridiculous handle. Lance with his in-and-out, Tyreke with his deep crossover.

They were calling it 'Reke Havoc vs. Born Ready.

Lance got it going first with a crossover in transition and a behind-the-back no-look lob for a dunk to the trailer.

This is one of the courts he plays at in the summer and he had his share of Harlem fans there that a Brooklyn kid has won over.

Tyreke had a monster fourth quarter where nobody could keep him from getting to the rim. He was still in warm-up mode when the game started and drew a couple whistles on some slowed down, methodical drives.

But when they finally picked each other up at half court it was magic in that park for those three straight possessions.

Both showed no mercy and toyed with each other.

Lance got to the rim after some obnoxious stop-and-go's. Tyreke caught him with a right-to-left and had a jumper that he sat on and just continued to work his handle out.

It was just two of the best scorers and most fun to watch guards out there simply stepping up and not shying away from what everybody in the know wanted to see.

Jennings and Holiday did the same thing. It was Arizona vs. UCLA out there. The Wildcat would rise up with the leg-kick from deep and bury a pair, then come down and hook Demar DeRozan up with a lob out of nowhere. The Bruin would get by Jennings no problem and then meet the traffic with a change of gear and some english on the lay-in that was elementary for him but dreamed about by those in the crowd eating sausage and peppers.

"Lot of athleticism on the floor here people. You too can be like this. Just change up that diet," was one of many lines from out the loud speakers.

I almost forgot how Holiday picked Jennings clean on an isolation.

People say there was no defense being played, but there was some guys digging in and that was one example.

Like John Riek - he just stood there in the paint on a two-on-one fastbreak and caused a turnover while he was getting a mosquitoe out his eye.

Who said you couldn't entertain at the Rucker on D too? If you got by Stephenson, he was going to foul you and bark at you. If you got by Jennings, he was going to take your arm off on a swipe or pull you back by the shorts.

Yeah, we had some fun moments at the Rucker Friday.

In the meantime between time, we had DeMar Derozan going in the air for alley-oops by taking off from the foul line practically and not even looking at the rim. His mid-jump is like 5 seconds long. Usually you catch the ball and throw it down. He'd catch the ball at some absurd angle, have time to do the running man and then turn and face the rim for the dunk. Really, Billy Walker couldn't see him on his best day.

Dexter Strickland had the dunk of the night though. Right wing, calls for the pick and roll, hits a left to right crossover going away from the pick and toward the baseline, takes one more dribble with his right and took off with his left for one that came out of nowhere and surprised everybody. Funny how John Starks spoke at media day and it was the same dunk he's known for. Strickland really hung tough out there and proved his worth.

BJ Mullens and Devin Ebanks came in right behind him with a pair of lobs they had to use all their wingspan to go up and get.

Name of the night was Mullens - That 70s Show, for his Sasquatch mullet. Rucker loved him.

Kemba Walker was a nice surprise in a perfect game for him to display his tricks. He didn't do anything to hurt his national name of biggest riser since school year's end.

And we know everybody has their less-famed globally but heard-about locally Rucker Park back home.

So I had to ask Samardo Samuels what his Rucker Park was back in his home of Jamaica. He wanted to send a big shout out to Falmouth Park.

Thanks for the memories guys. Keep it up. Here's to a good school year after a fun summer that we got plenty of stories from the court to tell.

Posted by Patrick Stevens at 12:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Quick notes from an hour at media day...

-The Runnin' Rebels had a strong presence in New York on Friday. Tark the Shark and Larry Johnson were in attendance to speak. Highlights of LJ's speech were that the life of a college and NBA player is the best life in the world and he's smiling all the way to the bank with the cuff links he had nice and bright. Coach Tarkanian was a Rucker regular back when he recruited Lloyd Daniels straight out the park. Daniels was, in a lot of the scouts' minds that have been doing this a long time, one of the most dominant high school players to have come around in a long time. More famous names thrown around with his in that category are Kareem and LeBron. Tark also talked about how he felt his last UNLV championship team was the best defensive team in the country and how they couldn't shoot, with Anderson Hunt the only one who could of the starting five that also had Stacey Augmon (pro) and Greg Anthony (pro).

-Lawrence Frank was the best of the speakers. If you didn't know, the New Jersey Nets head coach was a manager at Indiana under Bob Knight.

-John Starks told life lessons. He said it took him to be kicked out of two colleges before he realized how much school was worth to him. It was a big regret for him and although his path to the NBA is one of determination (having not been drafted and jumping on the Knicks as a rookie later in age), he said it's also one of lesson because it could've been much easier if he had applied himself in college.

-Baron Davis talked about being in that same position and soaking it all in and about O.J. Mayo abusing him on the floor of his own school last week.

-Not serious about the last line.

-Renardo Sidney still listed as Artesia in the program for all you gossip hounds wondering about him transferring.

-Jrue Holiday was front and center for UCLA former star Baron Davis' speech.

-New York crew Kevin Jones, Sylven Landesberg and Dexter Strickland all sat together.

-Tyreke Evans was walking around pretty slowly and not shooting. He's had this ankle injury that's bothered him all year.

-Devin Ebanks got to sit through a talk by one of his favorite childhood players - John Starks. He sat with good
friend Ed Davis, who came up to New York and ran with him at the Rumble in the Bronx back in June.

-Back to the Bruins fans, spotted Kevin Love out here.

-Former UConn point guard Marcus Williams made the trip up from NJ. He's taken Brandon Jennings under his wing over the years and had him out for his camp last week.

-Speaking of Brandon, he's been playing up at Gauchos Gym this week in his tour to conquer every court in New York. We'll have to get him out to IS8 and he said back in Vegas that he's up for it and planning on it.

-Game time is at 7:30 Friday.

Posted by Patrick Stevens at 07:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's awesome for basketball any time you get the best at a certain level all on the floor at once, and the Elite 24 game is bringing that to New York on Friday, August 24th.

College basketball has something like say the Pan Am Team tryouts. The NBA's got the last five minutes of the All-Star game, and during Vegas a couple weeks back we had the Team USA Basketball scrimmage that was something to tell your kids about down the road.

At our level here, the All-American game practices and scrimmages are awesome opportunities. Reading how O.J. Mayo was the best player on the floor at the McDonald's practices and getting to see Derrick Rose do his thing and pick everybody up in an intense Jordan Brand Classic scrimmage out here at Gauchos back in April- that's great stuff for all us basketball people, regardless of age.

The Elite 24 game will be more of a highlight tape than it will be like those mentioned above, but it's unique mix of players regardless of class is a must-have at this level and great move by the organizers.

We're locked into rankings by class: 2008, 2009, 2010. Wouldn't it be great reading material and debate to see our scouts on the 'net make at least a Top 10 regardless of class? I know that's a thought in the back of a lot of minds who read and write about the players on these pages.

Now you might say, "Who's going to go at each other this late in the summer in an all-star game?"

A Rucker Park full-house might change that up.

I heard Hot97 promoting the game yesterday, which I don't remember happening as early as two weeks before it last year.

And the game has plenty of the right players (Rosters). There's a couple match-ups I'm looking forward to seeing go down.

Are Brandon Jennings and Jrue Holiday going to take their West Coast talk and go at each other any out East? Same goes for Tyreke Evans and Lance Stephenson, which has been a healthy rivalry and good debate out this way.

The people in New York who follow the circuit and haven't seen Xavier Henry will be anxious to see how he stacks up with their backyard boy Lance.

I definitely hope Renardo Sidney and John Riek start a war inside at some point.

The Elite 24 game is shaping up nicely in its second year and turning into something fun for everybody as school is around the corner. It's a great memory maker for the players playing and good storytelling for those lucky to be in the park.

And when they're done there, maybe they can try their luck at IS8. More on that next time.

Posted by Patrick Stevens at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)