Team World takes on Team Africa at the sold out, four-thousand-seat Ellis Park Arena in Johannesburg, South Africa. “I want to see how the infrastructure is and how it is ran”.
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“It was mad that The Dream knew exactly who I was”, he remembers.
Silver said there was a large amount of “symbolism” to the NBA’s visit to Africa and its first game on the continent, comparing it in some ways to President Barack Obama’s recent trips to Kenya and Ethiopia. Mutombo, 39, played three minutes and hauled in three boards.
Team World quickly stretched its lead to 10 points, with Beal and Memphis Grizzlies forward Jeff Green knocking down shots from beyond the arc.
Team World stepped it up in the second half of the game to come up with the win. That means this was the first game for Batum in a Hornets jersey. “I was happy to see the the joy it brought to faces”. Miami Heat’s Luol Deng was the captain. “Coming from South Sudan and having participated in the Basketball without Borders Africa camps in Johannesburg previously, I am truly honored to be part of this historic event”. The potential audience is big.
Added Turner: “I was just blown away by how appreciative and grateful and good-spirited the kids were”. Eight-time All-Star Chris Paul of the LA Clippers will head a 20-man squad that make up Team World. “It was one of the best experiences of my life”, he said.
Deng scored 20 points. Also on the rosters are Al-Farouq Aminu and Giannis Antetokounmpo, who both have parents from Nigeria. “I cannot describe it”.
In the upcoming game between Team World and Team Africa, the latter team will feature players who were born in Africa or are second-generation. They’ve also been playing regular season games in London, and have even played preseason games in smaller countries like the Philippines and Taiwan.
Not everything hit the right note.
Entertainment before the game, and during timeouts, lacked the razzmatazz of an American sporting spectacle. On Saturday, he’ll actually play one close to home.
“He taught me that”, Dieng said. But now, he says, the infrastructure surrounding youth basketball has undergone a “top-to-bottom” transformation. And National Basketball Association Commissioner Adam Silver believes this is just the beginning of things to come.
He told Agence-France Presse: “This match was an experiment”.
Silver said the new agreement with ESPN and TNT will have a “significant impact on the viability” of teams.
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Team Africa played without a guard, and while they were able to get up-and-down the floor in the first half, it was only a matter of time before the mismatches started to hurt their team.
