Photos courtesy of Rodney Williams/EBCRuckerPark
The first annual EBC Celebrity Challenge brought the Rucker to Brooklyn. The famed streetball league collected some of the best players from New York, L.A., Philly and DC for a three-game showdown at the Barclays Center on Sunday night.
Celebrities speckled the stands (LL Cool J, Teyana Taylor, Fabolous, Busta Rhymes, Jadakiss, Stalley and Nya Lee to name a few) as the teams took to the herringbone hardcourt. Guest coaches Big Sean, Kendrick Lamar, French Montana and Wale patrolled the sidelines and controlled the crowd with performances during intermissions.
Team NY and Team L.A. went head to head in the first match of the night. With pros like Austin Daye, Marcus Williams and Jordan Hamilton, L.A. jumped out to an early lead and was well ahead going into halftime. But 5-9 guard Malik Boothe aka Kevin Hart took over for Team NY in the second half to lead the home team to a last-minute victory.
The win advanced Team NY to the championship game, where they were met by the Wale-coached Team DMV. Wearing Foamposite Supremes, Folarin led his team past Team Philly in the semifinal and continued the momentum against Team NY. New York was rested, but perhaps too much, as they couldn’t find an answer for the DMV’s backcourt of Jarrett Jack and Nolan Smith.
The basketball didn’t feature all the crossovers and dunks that one would expect from an EBC event, but the newest Net stole the show at Barclays. If Sunday night was any indication, Jarrett Jack may be on his way to becoming a crowd favorite in Brooklyn.
Shout out my NYC PHILLY and LA fam.. Me and my dmv team took home that chip today thx for all the love and all the fans who showed out today
— Wale Folarin (@Wale) July 28, 2014
