As two intense NBA playoff games took place Friday night in Cleveland and Minneapolis, a different type of basketball event was held in a small gym at Oak Ridge High School.
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And it didn’t matter to the players on the Orlando court that no more than 400 people were in attendance to watch them battle it out in a 1-on-1 tournament.
The games, which were a part of Tracy McGrady’s “Ones Basketball League,” were competitive. They were physical. And they were highly entertaining.
“Listen, if you’ve got money on the line, there’s going to be desperation,” McGrady, the league’s founder and Magic Hall of Famer, told the Orlando Sentinel. “This is an opportunity for these guys. … They’ve got some of their idols in here that they played in front of.
“There’s a lot of pressure on these guys. When you’ve got something that you could play for and monetize off of, it’s going to be a little intense.”
Eight teams of four players representing different cities from across the country faced off against each other in 16 1-on-1 games. Ultimately, the six four-player teams that scored the most points in the first-to-seven contests advanced.
Teams from Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Miami, New York, and Washington, D.C., moved past the “Battle of the Cities,” the first of three events for the league. Those six teams advance to the next phase of the tournament, “Standing 6,” set for June 12.
From there, four will move on to “For the Throne,” the July 1 finals. Both events will also be held at Oak Ridge with a $100,000 prize on the line.
“I thought it was a great atmosphere,” McGrady said. “Orlando showed a lot of support. I thought the guys played extremely well, played hard. … All in all, I think it was a great showing. And hopefully the crowd that was here got an opportunity to see some good basketball and understand what we’re trying to build.”
What McGrady is trying to build is a re-start of the 1-on-1 league he first launched four years ago. This summer’s event, however, is different in a number of ways.
For starters, it’s backed by a multi-million dollar growth capital investment by Miami-based investment firm Next Gen Sports, whose CEO is Heath Freeman. The chairman of the league, Freeman is also the president of Alden Global Capital, an investment firm that owns Tribune Publishing, the parent company of the Orlando Sentinel.
This go-round, the teams are coached by basketball legends and celebrities, from the NBA and beyond. The league’s 32 players come from a variety of places and levels of experience, ranging from Division I, II and III to the NBA G League and overseas veterans.
“That’s why we wanted to create this — for guys to get the opportunity,” Hall of Famer Vince Carter, who coached the Orlando team, told the Sentinel. “To push yourself to the max and stress yourself, I love it.”
“I think what T-Mac has created is fantastic, and giving us a chance to be a part of it, it doesn’t get any better than that,” Carter added. “What his vision was, came to fruition.”
Carter’s team came up short via tiebreaker. Team Washington D.C., coached by two-time NBA champion Quinn Cook, scored the most with 28 points. Tim Hardaway’s Miami squad was second with 27.
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Actor and film producer Larenz Tate coached the Chicago squad that finished third with 24. NBA legend Muggsy Bogues coached the Baltimore team to 23 points. The Atlanta team, owned by Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown (who wasn’t in attendance), ended fifth with 21.
Team New York, coached by rapper Jadakiss, tied Orlando with 16, but won a tiebreaker to advance. Five-time NBA All-Star John Wall saw his Raleigh, North Carolina, team get ousted with 14 points.
“I mean, obviously, we wanted to win,” Carter said about his Orlando team. “Fell a point short. … And now we’re hoping it just gets the buzz for the following tournament on the 12th and then the championship.”
The 1-on-1 games were mostly straightforward. Working with a 10-second shot clock, players that scored seven points won — with anything inside the arc worth one point and outside worth two. The games were also limited to a 10-minute running clock.
Scoring resulted in a change of possession. As did a dead-ball stoppage. Offensive rebounds were allowed. A change of possession also occurred after a defensive rebound or a steal in-bounds, so long as the ball cleared past the arc.
A player’s first four fouls meant a reset of possession. If a player with five fouls committed a defensive foul, the offensive player shot one free throw. An offensive foul committed by a player with five fouls resulted in a change of possession.
Each player had a one-minute timeout and a 30-second timeout per game. The coach, as well as the team’s player-captain, got one challenge per game. If successful, the player won possession.
If a game point was decided by free throws, a player had to make two free throws to be awarded the game-winning point, with a missed free throw resulting in change of possession and no point.
The players, who mostly went by unique nicknames, had to be over the age of 18, not currently playing in college and have played in fewer than 162 NBA games to be eligible to compete.
Some players had success using their speed to blow past a defender to score around the rim. Others relied on their sharpshooting abilities to knock down long-range shots. Regardless of how they scored, those in attendance reacted appropriately as each player took out their opponent in this head-to-head competition.
In one of the top games, Atlanta’s Paul Parks took a 6-2 lead over Miami’s Byrd Daniel III, before Daniel swished two straight behind the arc to tie it at six points. Parks then flipped in a put-back layup to win, 7-6.
The event attracted some big names as spectators, too.
Former Magic and current Grizzlies guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope sat courtside for more than half the night. Florida Gators legend and Grizzlies guard Walter Clayton Jr. also watched closely. God Shammgod, who served as an assistant coach for the Magic this past season, was in attendance as well.
McGrady viewed the evening as a success.
“I’m glad Oak Ridge gave us an opportunity to play in this gym,” he said. “I look forward to coming back June 12, and I’m sure it’s going to be bigger and better.
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“But the atmosphere, the environment — everything was great.”
Jason Beede can be reached at [email protected]