OKLAHOMA CITY — Before the US Fleet Tracking Basketball Invitational began, Kevin Durant — the host of the charity event — said, “We’ll try and make it a show.”
He should have added, “And then some.”
With six minutes left to play and a victory on the line, Miami Heat forward LeBron James scored the bucket that put his White Team up for the first time in the game, 145-143. It was those two points that turned the game.
A Durant 3-pointer later tied the game with only seconds to play at 161-161 and would send the game into overtime. When time finally ran out, Durant’s White Team had secured a 176-171 victory at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City.
But it was only in the last five minutes of the game that an NBA All-Star game — which could be argued with six All-stars on the court — morphed into a competitive contest that Durant wouldn’t lose.
After all, it was his invitational, and the rules of the game were stacked in his favor.
“It’s my game, I can’t foul out,” he said.
Of course he couldn’t. That wouldn’t be fair, would it?
Durant said he was happy with the outcome of the game and appreciated the 12,874 fans who attended the invitational.
“It wasn’t all me,” he said. “There was more than just me. A lot of people helped me out to make things go smoothly. I’m glad everybody enjoyed themselves.”
Chris Paul certainly enjoyed himself.
A shrub among Redwoods, Paul made the kind of passes that brought many to their feet while he played in Oklahoma City for the Hornets — and he made a lot of them. In the first half, Paul dished out 15 dimes, and 13 of them came in the first quarter
Then he got serious.
With the clock winding down, Paul took up the assignment of guarding Durant, who was 15-of-30 for 42 points and added 26 rebounds and 11 assists.
“It’s always a competition,” Paul said. “Right there at that last shot to end regulation, [Durant] was asking me why was I guarding him. And I said because I’m not gonna to let him shoot. I want to win.”
Paul finished the night with 14 points and 25 assists on the Blue Team. But Minnesota Timberwolves forward Michael Beasley wouldn’t be outdone.
Beasley scored 27 points in 22 minutes to edge out New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony to become leading scorer in the first half. Anthony had 23 points in the half and 43 in the game.
Beasley finished as the game’s leading scorer with 56 points on 25-of-35 shooting. He only threw up two 3-pointers, and neither of them found the inside of the basket.
Get buckets.
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook scored 34 points, and many of them came at the expense of violating the basket with rim-rattling dunks. He was one of six players to score at least 30 points in the game.
Oklahoma City Thunder guard James Harden contributed 33 points to the Blue Team in its loss, but said he was happy just to play basketball in Oklahoma City.
“You don’t understand how much I miss this place,” he said. “To see the fans and how much support we have, it’s unbelievable.”
After 24 minutes of play, the score was 88-82, Blue Team over White Team.
The second half began as the first half did. There were jumpers from distance, dunks slammed and the occasional defensive effort, which seemed a sin during the game.
18 total fouls were called, and with each one, fans implored the referees to swallow their whistles. Let the boys play.
At the end of the day, that’s all Paul wanted to do — NBA lockout be damned.
“If you see these games, you can see we love to play the game,” Paul said. “We are going to find a way to play any way possible. We want to keep giving the fans opportunities to see us.”
And fans just might, according to Durant.
“Hopefully we can get something going across the street at Chesapeake [Arena],” he said.