Hardwood Paroxysm: The greatest things we’ve ever seen on a basketball court
The greatest thing I ever saw in person was Josh Selby turning into a demigod at LVSL
By Brian Schroeder (@Cosmis)
A quick disclaimer before I begin: I’ve only been to two NBA games live and in person. The first was a lopsided Magic/Pacers game in early 2011 that saw Dwight Howard physically dominate a mediocre Pacers squad. I remember very little. The second was a nationally televised Bulls/Pacers contest that saw Jimmy Butler hit the 20 point mark for the first time and Derrick Rose’s first arrival on the bench. It was a good game, but no single performance really stands out.
Despite having been to maybe 35 Fort Wayne Mad Ants games over the last several years, I seem to have missed most of the best performances. I think the best I saw in person was Rob Kurz dropping a clean 28 and 15 in 2009 or so. Seth Curry briefly turning into his brother in the second half of Game 2 of the D-League Finals last year was fun, as was Tony Mitchell shooting his team both into and out of the game in the first half. Neither compares to the best Las Vegas Summer League performance I’ve seen in three consecutive years attending the event: Josh Selby turning into a golden god.
That video, while fun, only shows a handful of the seven 3-pointers Selby hit in that game, most of which came from well beyond the line. A little something about LVSL: the Thomas and Mack Center, home court of the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels, is a perfectly decent arena to watch a basketball game in. Good sight lines, generally pleasant to be in. It’s NOTHING compared to the COX Pavilion. Despite (or perhaps because of) being smaller than my high school gymnasium, the COX Pavilion is the most intimate setting imaginable to watch a basketball game in. When it’s near capacity (as it often is), one often finds oneself literally rubbing shoulders with giants, or least with the Corey Maggettes and Richard Jeffersons of the world. The first game of LVSL 2014 was Bucks vs. Cavs, aka Wiggins vs. Jabari and Giannis. It was a good game, but the crowd — filled to standing room only at least 10 minutes before tip — made it hot. There was nowhere to go. Several times, the PA announcer stated that if fans left their seats, they would lose them. Had there been a fire, a good five hundred people (and most of the Hardwood Paroxysm staff) probably would have perished. It was marvelous, and before it, Josh Selby’s Seth Curry impersonation was the closest thing to it I had ever seen. A decent, maybe even good game by LVSL standards made better by the screams, lamentations and bewildered cheers of a couple hundred people 20 feet away from a guy launching 30-footers with no regard for himself or anyone around him.
It was magnificent, and it was the most Summer League thing imaginable. Where is Josh Selby now? Does anyone even know? Wherever it is, I hope he remembers that day as fondly as I do, whenever he hoists up 30 footers in an empty gym and pretends it’s the COX Pavilion.
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