SEATTLE — A historic day at the CrawsOver Pro-Am will feature more NBA talent than ever on the courts of Seattle since the league’s final preseason visit ended early due to court conditions. What organizer Jamal Crawford called “an incredible, one of a kind” experience.
Since the game moved to its current home (the Royal Brougham Pavilion on the campus of Seattle Pacific University), some of the league’s biggest stars have played in CrawsOver, including Kobe Bryant. Kevin Durant When Blake Griffinthe pro-am hype never reached its height on Saturday.
Excitement kicked off on Friday, with Crawford lebron james Tweeted MVP 4 times First time back in Seattle It’s been over 15 years since my last road game with the Sonics in January 2007.
James joined his fellow All-Stars Jason Tatum When Dejounte Murrayand the top two draft picks of the year (Paolo Banchero When Chet HolmgrenHolmgren left in the opening moments of the game with an apparent ankle injury), while the other two first-round picks (local players) Mahjong Beauchamp When Tali Eason) and three other NBA veterans: Locals CJ ELEVY When Isaiah Thomas and visitor Aaron Gordon.
Fans began camping overnight on Friday as free attendees were capped at under 3,000. guarantee to stand in their lineThousands remained outside even after the gym was at capacity.
Hall of Famer and coach Lenny Wilkens, Los Angeles Clippers chairman Steve Ballmer, several former Seattle Seahawks (Cliff Avril, Marcus Turfant, KJ Wright), Seattle Storm and Washington Mystics were both members of the building early Saturday ahead of Game 2 of Sunday’s WNBA playoff series.
the crowd erupted When James entered the gym Shortly before the scheduled 6:00 p.m. final game of the day featuring the NBA star. With hordes of onlookers surrounding James on the court, Crawford holding the mic and begging fans to restore order, and Seattle police warning that the entire event could be shut down, the information must be delayed a bit. I had to.
Condensation became an issue not long after the game started. An unusually humid day for Seattle in the summer, the combination of a packed crowd and heat resulted in recurring wet spots on the court.
“Every time they dried it out, it didn’t get any better,” said a slip while climbing to finish midway through the second quarter, prompting action with 5:47 left in the second quarter. Beauchamp said he made the decision to cancel.
“Days like this are rare, but it’s my job to keep everyone safe,” Crawford explained. It was meant to inspire and give hope and they did it.The job is done.”
Fans didn’t get the full game, but Star packed a lot of highlights into the basketball quarter. Tatum was the standout of the day Hit a series of long 3-pointers early in the gamepunctuated some of them with his signature blown kiss to the crowd.
Playing together, Tatum and James teamed up for the highlight of the day, a high-single lob in transition James finished with his left hand. James also ended the first quarter with these words: powerful dunk.
When Crawford picked up the microphone again and announced the end of the game, he thanked the visiting stars for their participation.
“Obviously not everyone got in, and probably nobody could,” he later said. “We tried to do the best we could. We tried to provide an experience like no other. I think it’s moments and memories that the kids will never forget, so I thought it was great overall.”
That was certainly the case with Beauchamp, who played CrawsOver in high school in Seattle, but never attended a tournament like this.
“The experience [once in] Beauchamp said: It was cool to be in Seattle with these great players. Dream this. “
