Los Angeles’ most famous summer league, the Drew League, was back in action this weekend. The Drew has become one of the nations most well-known pro-am leagues. And when the calendar turns to July, some of the NBA’s best make their way out to The Drew and put on a show. Names like Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant and LeBron James have all taken turns shutting down the gym with unforgettable performances.
This past weekend was Week 9 of the Drew’s 11 week regular season and with teams making their playoff pushes, some of the NBA’s most exciting players came out to put on a show.
After dropping 57 points last week, Pistons guard Brandon Jennings lit the gym on fire yet again. Jennings suited up for former-NBA guard Marcus Williams’ ‘Clozers’ squad and dropped a ridiculous 56 points to help pull out a 93-92 win over Dorrell Wright and his ‘Kings of LA’ squad.
Jennings started off slow, missing on some three’s and not really taking the game over from the onset. Unfortunately for the Kings of LA, the refs made Jennings angry with plenty of non-calls for the guard, and that’s when things really got fun. With the Clozers down to start the fourth, Jennings came out firing in his own real-life version of NBA Jam.
Unofficially, Jennings had at least 25 points in that fourth quarter absolutely taking over. And for those who think the NBA guys don’t take these games seriously, Jennings picked up a technical for jawing with officials before taking the game over in the fourth.
The main event of the afternoon however featured rapper Game’s ‘La Familia’ squad taking on ‘Problems’ lead by former NBA-er Darius Johnson-Odom.
With ‘La Familia’ struggling to a 4-4 record through the first eight games of the season, Game was sure to bring out some big guns for Sunday’s showcase. In the past, the rapper has brought out some big names including James Harden, John Wall and Metta World Peace. There had even been whispers of another Durant show at the Drew.
While KD was unable to make it out, Week 9 was no different as ‘La Familia’ trotted out a starting five of Game, World Peace and Toronto Raptors trio Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan and Terrence Ross.
With the three Toronto stars taking the court together, some took to calling the team the Compton Raptors.
Jayceon a cheater man. He has the Compton Raptors on the floor right now. Ross, Lowry, Derozan… And Metta World Peace for some reason.
— Aaron Smarter (@AaronSmarter) July 13, 2014
While having a team with four NBA starters on it in a pro-am league sounds like an automatic blowout, ‘Problems’ held their own for most of the game, even leading by double-digits in the second half. Unfortunately for them, once the fourth quarter started, the Raptors and MWP took over and lead ‘La Familia’ to an 89-81 win highlighted by a few DeRozan dunks.
There were plenty of near-highlights in the game, with Ross in particular missing on what would have been an incredible breakaway windmill, but the Player of the Game was the gritty MWP, who scored 19 points and grabbed 8 boards for Game’s squad.
Game 5 has wrapped with La Familia defeating Problems 89-81. @MettaWorldPeace named Top Performer with 19 points and 8 boards. #thedrew
— Drew League (@DrewLeague) July 14, 2014
With two more weeks left in the Drew’s regular season, it will be interesting to see what big-name stars make their way out to the gym. If you’re in the LA-area, do yourself a favor and hit the Drew League this weekend. Oh and make sure you get there early if you want to actually get in, it’s a show you don’t want to miss.