D.C. claims bragging rights, but L.A. hoping for a rematch

Early in the third quarter of his team’s 135-134 victory over the Los Angeles-based Drew League, Goodman League commissioner Miles Rawls looked down at the opponent to his right and said, “It’s a long flight to L.A. with an ‘L’ on the chest.”

The words elicited laughter from the crowd but seemed to fire up the players from the left coast as they immediately overcame a double-digit deficit to eventually take the lead as James Harden drove and dunked and Brandon Jennings, scored, flipped on his back and later danced. The visitors silenced the stunned overflow crowd until Wizards point guard John Wall and District native Kevin Durant brought back the Goodman League -- Wall with his quick feet and nifty passes; Durant with his high-flying dunks -- and set up a thrilling finish.

The intensity for a supposed summer league exhibition perhaps exceeded what many of the participants had expected, but also spoke to the pride that was at stake for players who earn their reputations on the asphalt at Barry Farm or the indoor gym that Washington Park. Sacramento Kings forward DeMarcus Cousins used his big body to pound Wizards center JaVale McGee on back-to-back dunks in the first half, local street ball legend Hugh “Baby Shaq” Jones exchanged some words with Los Angeles Clippers forward Craig Smith and Kevin Durant and his Oklahoma City Thunder teammate Harden threw aside all pleasantries as they staged an often physical duel at Trinity University.

“That’s why we set this whole thing up. Both teams are going to play hard,” said Harden, who scored 34 points. “I don’t want hear nothing about that Kevin Durant, Thunder up. We’re enemies right now.”

Harden made those comments before Durant won the game by sinking two free throws with 21.5 seconds remaining to finish with a game-high 44 points and then blocked Harden’s shot as time expired. Durant said he wasn’t surprised by how Harden went at him. “That’s with anything, that’s in practice, that’s in shootaround. If we’re on opposite teams, we go at it.”

Several players from the visiting squad questioned the foul call afterward and the anger and frustration that came with paying their own money for travel and lodging expenses, only to come away with a loss, had them angling for a rematch sooner than later. “We need that rematch,” Jennings said after scoring a team-high 38 points for the Drew League. “We lost on a last second shot, and a last second call. Nothing said that they was better than us. If you think about it, they was one up because they had an all-star. We didn’t have no all-stars.”