If you’re a hoops junkie, there’s no better place to be this week than New York City.
The World Basketball Festival whips through the Big Apple with a slew of events.
As I see it, there are basically two main components. The first involves Team USA, which begins practices Tuesday leading up to Sunday’s exhibition against France at Madison Square Garden. (Practices are not open to the public.)
The Americans then leave for exhibition games against Lithuania (Aug. 21), Spain (Aug. 22) and Greece (Aug. 25) in Madrid and Athens before the start of the FIBA World Championships Aug. 26 in Istanbul, Turkey.
The second component involves the high school guys who play in the Battle of the Boroughs Friday and Saturday at Rucker Park. Four teams representing four boroughs will square off over two days. Out of that will come a 10-man all-star team that will be coached by Kimani Young of New Heights and Bernard Bowen and will also travel to Turkey Aug. 28-Sept. 3 to compete against other youth national teams.
(The Battle of the Borough games are open to the public but it’s recommended you get to Rucker early.)
According to Nate Blue, the key players for Brooklyn include Omar Calhoun, Mike Taylor, Kamari Murphy, and Daryl Lucky.
The key players for Harlem include Sidiki Johnson, Shaquille Stokes, Angel Nunez, and Devon Brooks.
The key players for Queens are Jermaine Sanders, Maurice Harkless, Kadeem Jack and Corey Edwards.
And the key players for The Bronx are Dennis Green, Daniel Dingle, Deonte Houston, and Mussa Kone.
Be sure to head to Rucker Park Friday and Saturday to check out the video presentations Nike is putting together on Rucker legends Kenny Anderson, Fly Williams, Larry “Bone Collector” Williams, Bobbito Garcia, Greg Marius and Boobie Smooth, as well as New York coaches Ron Naclerio and Kimani Young.
Here are the key dates and locations:
TEAM USA
Tuesday — USA Team Training at John Jay College, 12
Wednesday – USA Team Training at John Jay College, 12
Thursday –– USA Basketball Showcase Game at Radio City Music Hall, 6 p.m.
Friday — USA Team Training in Greenburgh, N.Y., 10 a.m.
Saturday — USA Team Training at MSG, 2:30
Sunday — Global Community Cup at MSG: USA vs. France, 1 p.m; China vs. Puerto Rico, 3:30
BATTLE OF THE BOROUGHS
Monday – Individual team practices
Wednesday – Individual team practices
Friday — Brooklyn vs. The Bronx, 3-5; Harlem vs. Queens, 5-7; New York All-Stars-China, 7:10-8:25, Rucker Park
Saturday — New York vs. New York final, 4:45-6, Rucker Park
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