Durant has 59 points but loses to Melo & Co.
BALTIMORE — Kevin Durant shimmied, crossed over, and then blew by LeBron James for a baseline dunk. James nailed a step-back jumper and flew through the lane to finish yet another thunderous slam. James even had one alley-oop to himself off the backboard. On each ensuing trip down the court, the energized fans begged, pleaded and urged for more.
That’s the way an unforgettable night went at Morgan State’s Talmadge L. Hill Field House, where a capacity crowd of 4,500 became the latest to benefit from the endless summer league that has come about largely because of the NBA lockout.
On a team boasting largely of D.C. natives, the Oklahoma City forward fearlessly scored a game-high 59 points, falling just short of the epic 66 he’d scored at New York’s Rucker Park earlier this summer.
A stern-faced James had 38 points but similar to his first season with the Miami Heat, he was buoyed by fellow all-stars Chris Paul (New Orleans, 18 points) and Carmelo Anthony (New York, 36 points). Anthony’s Melo Foundation organized the contest and the Baltimore-themed team prevailed 149-141.
“We’ve been following KD this whole summer, going to all these games and stuff like that,” Paul said. “Melo told us that he’s having a game, and did we want to play? No question.”
The line formed hours earlier for tickets, which were available only at the Morgan State box office. By the time a bungled national anthem was sung and the scheduled tip-off arrived at 7 p.m., Anthony strolled onto the court wearing sunglasses and was slowly engulfed by fans having no regard for court security. Closer to 8 p.m., Durant arrived with Jeff Green (Boston) and Austin Daye (Detroit) and the things finally got underway.
Durant had 24 points before Anthony’s team reeled off a 17-0 run to take a 68-58 lead into half.
“I worked out at 7:45 this morning on the bike, then I worked out at the gym with Austin Daye,” Durant said. “This was like my play time.”
Gary Neal (San Antonio) showed off his Towson roots with a trio of 3-pointers to open the second half. Paul mixed things up with Ty Lawson (Denver), lulling the fellow point guard to sleep before knocking down a 3-pointer.
Anthony smirked as he got the best of Green but had his hands full with Daye, who scored many of his 24 points late. Los Angeles Clippers guard Eric Bledsoe went impossibly high to jam home a feed from Paul.
The night’s most dynamic individual moment might have come from one player who is still yet to show his talents on a NBA court, Memphis rookie-to-be Josh Selby, who spun 360 degrees to throw down a flush from former Wizards and Maryland guard Juan Dixon.
But this is summer, and that means Durant was the star.
“I already knew it was going to be exactly like that,” said Lawson of the James/Durant duel. “D.C. vs. Baltimore, it doesn’t get no better. Melo brought his crew. Me and KD brought ours. They got us this time, but next time, I guarantee we’ll get the win.”
