| 01 August 2011
Tony Wroten Jr. from the West team drives on Terrence Williams from the East team.
Just as it seemed the Jamal Crawford Summer Pro-Am had reached its peak, its spectators were surprised Sunday afternoon as an all-star themed event took place at the Rainier Vista Boys and Girls Club in Seattle, Washington.
Straying from the usual format of three games featuring six talented teams, this weekend brought some of the best from the tournament’s Hawks, Bulls, 76ers, Sonics, Mavericks and Blazers teams all together to play against one another in an East vs. West game. But before the All-Star game, fans in attendance were treated with a three point shootout and slam dunk that would prove tough to top.
Three Point Contest
Garrison Carr
The three point contest rules were simple as all eight sharp shooter had one minute to sink as many threes as they could. Each rack held four one point balls and one two point money ball. The first round sought to eliminate half the field and did so as Melvin Jones who took the first round with 15 points, meanwhile Marcus Bradford, Alvin Snow and Garrison Carr all tied with 13 points to advance.
Notables who did not advance were UW alum Tre Simmons and the man who made the Pro-Am such a great success Jamal Crawford. Simmons wasn’t able to get all of his shots off and finished with 11 points and counterpart Crawford with limited warm up time scored just eight points.
The second round saw Garrison Carr and Alvin Snow move on with identical scores as they both notched 13 points. What happened next took the capacity crowd by surprise. In the finals both Snow and Carr tied with eleven points each to force a 30 second tie breaker which the competitors tied once again with five points.
Carr a smaller point guard with a quick release faced off against Snow, a powerful but efficient shooter, but when the final buzzer sounded it was Carr that was able to muster up enough to edge Snow. Both athletes let out a sigh of relief after meeting by the bench with a congratulatory hug to the applause of the capacity crowd.
Dunk Contest
Kevin Kemp took home the dunk contest crown
Judging the dunk contest were Joyce Walker and the NBA’s Jamal Crawford while the final judge was an expert at the art of the dunking for he has won three NBA dunk contests himself, and that man was none other than Seattle native and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Nate Robinson.
The afternoon’s slam dunk contest lacked the competitive edge that the three point contest seemed to have an overabundance of. Easily advancing into the final were Lukas Henne and a dunk artist known globally as “Golden Boy” Kevin Kemp. The “Golden Boy” ran away with the competition winning with a perfect score of thirty on his final dunk of the evening when he jumped over a teammate holding a basketball which Kemp proceeded to take between his legs and finished with a slam.
The dunk won with the judges and won in the court of public opinion. The crowd erupted after every successful dunk from Kevin Kemp, who basketball fanatics and casual fans alike, crowded around the court with cameras and video recorders to capture a piece of something special.
All-Star Game
The West All-Stars dressed in black uniforms with white trim outlasted the East All-Stars who donned the red and white 122-119. Both finalists from the three-point contest donned the black and white joining forces with headliners Nate Robinson, Spencer Hawes and Tony Wroten Jr. The East All-Stars ran with Jamal Crawford, Terrence Williams, Tre Simmons and Mike Jensen.
Wroten Jr. and Williams defended each other for the better part of the game and Wroten Jr. got the scoring edge on Sunday as he dropped 47 points to lead all scorers in the contest with his teammate Robinson scoring 20 in the win. Williams was the East’s leading scorer with 25 points meanwhile teammate Simmons added 23 and Shawn Henderson contributed 21 points.
A fan frenzy like none other from a standing room only crowd ensued after the final buzzer of the game. Children and adults alike took Jamal Crawford Summer Pro-Am posters and basketballs around to their favorite basketball players to get signed. Players, still sweating from the All-Star game mingled shoulder to shoulder with fans with their families which had a real homecoming feel to it. Athletes, still catching their breath from the game, posed for pictures with fans that laughed with excitement and left with a true feeling of satisfaction after a afternoon of entertainment from Seattle’s best.
Extra
Will Conroy was in attendance with former Seattle Supersonic Shawn Kemp but was unable to play in the All-Star game as he nursed a sore ankle.
--Darren Woods (@nwsportsfan1)
