From one of the last charity games KD participated in before the lockout ended. Shout out to our friends at The Mars Reel for putting this together.

KD was sensational throughout this off-season and the extended lockout, keeping basketball alive by playing in pro-ams, summer leagues and pick up games throughout the country. From L.A. to D.C. to Baltimore to New York, his “from my hood to your hood” basketball tour proved to the world that even with a lockout BASKETBALL NEVER STOPS. Here are some of KD’s best performances of the summer and extended lockout. Which one do you believe was his best performance of the lockout?

KD shuts down the Drew League in Los Angeles
While in Los Angeles working out in June, KD decided to show up and play a couple of games at the Drew League. The performance gave the Drew League National attention, kicked of what KD called his “from my hood to your hood” basketball tour and led to superstars such as LeBron James and Kobe Bryant showing up to play at the Drew League later during the lockout.

Rucker 66
In late July/early August, KD took his “from my hood to you hood” basketball tour to New York city and put on a legendary performance at the world famous Rucker Park. The 66 point performance was an instant viral sensation and had the entire sports world buzzing. He capped the performance with 4 straight 3-pointers that set the crowd at the Rucker on fire.

Baltimore Melo League Shutdown
A couple of weeks after his Rucker Park performance KD showed up at the Melo League in Baltimore and put on this spectacular performance.

Drew v. Goodman: Capital Punishment
With the Drew League in Los Angeles and the Goodman League in Washington D.C. hosting great games throughout the summer, the best players from the two leagues came together for a showdown in D.C. KD did not disappoint his home town fans, leading his Goodman League squad to victory with a spectacular 44 point, MVP performance.

KD’s Capital Punishment was also documented in 35th Hour, Episode 1

KD scores 59 against LeBron James at the Melo League v. Goodman League Showdown
After his performance at Capital Punishment, KD brought his Goodman League squad to Baltimore to take on a Melo League squad that included Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul and LeBron James. Kevin held is own against the All-NBA trio, scoring 59 points while showing off his much improved handle.

KD’s performance against LeBron and co. was documented in 35th Hour, Episode 2:

Check out the mixtape the BallisLife crew put together of Kevin Durant’s performances throughout the lockout.

KD played all over the globe throughout the summer and the extended lockout, on what he called his “From My Hood to Your Hood” basketball tour. Throughout the summer he threw down some ridiculous dunks. Here are our choices for the best 3.

Reverse Baseline Dunk at the Melo League in Baltimore

Off the Backboard at the Drew League in Los Angeles

Tomahawk on Austin Daye at the Goodman League in Washington D.C.

Which one was your favorite KD Dunk of the summer?

Check out the first episode of Kevin Durant’s new web series entitled “35th Hour”. Episode 1 gives us a day in the life of Kevin, as he and his Goodman League teammates take on L.A.’s Drew League All-Stars in the D.C. showdown known as Capital Punishment.

Shout out to Kam Pashai and The Mars Reel team for their work on this.

By Michael Lee

About an hour before the most star-studded summer league game tipped off at Morgan State’s Hill Field House, I spotted Goodman League commissioner and master of ceremony for the night, Miles Rawls, and asked him about when his team was going to have a rematch against the Drew League in Los Angeles. Rawls again mentioned that they are looking at getting together on Sept. 25, but added that the Drew League is still trying to get Kobe Bryant involved in some way.

“K.D. wants Kobe, doesn’t he,” I asked Rawls, since District native Kevin Durant had already told Brandon Jennings the night before on Twitter that he wanted to see Bryant playing for the Drew League the next time the teams square off.

Rawls nodded and said, “You know K.D. ain’t ducking nobody.”

Rawls words would prove to be on point later in the evening, as the late-arriving Durant eagerly accepted the challenge of being the lone all-star for the Goodman League against the all-star trio of LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul that led the Melo League.

“Playing against those guys was a lot of fun for me. I’m excited I got that opportunity playing against some great players, playing with some great players as well,” Durant said after his team lost, 149-141, in a game that was lopsided until the final five minutes.

Durant was aided by NBA players Jeff Green, Trevor Austin Daye, Roger Mason Jr., and Jarrett Jack, but the matchup against the Melo All-Stars was incredibly unfair — especially with DeMarcus Cousins and Jennings failing to appear, for some reason, placing more pressure on Durant. The Melo all-stars also had the high-flying Eric Bledsoe and Josh Selby, and the sharp-shooting Gary Neal to carry the load when the Big Three wasn’t lighting up the scoreboard.

Durant scored 59 points, but for most of the night, it felt like watching the Eastern Conference Finals, when James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh combined to make Derrick Rose resemble a helpless one-way show. Rawls mentioned during the third quarter that Durant was “doing everything but cleaning the floor” but he couldn’t outscore James, Paul and Anthony all alone.

CONTINUE READING

Two of the NBA’s top superstars went head-to-head yesterday at the Goodman League v. Melo League showdown in Baltimore. KD held his own against LeBron, finishing with 59 points, while LeBron finished with 36. The two superstars went at each other all night and gave us some highlights to remember. Check them out below!

Shout out to Ball is Life and hoopmixtape for the footage.

Check out this new KD wallpaper designed by Ryan Hurst. It sums up perfectly what KD has called his “From my hood to your hood” summer basketball tour. KD truly believes that Basketball Never Stops, and nothing shows that better than this wallpaper. Click on the photo to open and download!

Heart. Hustle. Pride.

For years, all roads to legendary have gone through one court, Rucker Park. The soul of the game is found on 155th Street in Harlem, New York on the ultimate blacktop stage. What you do while on that stage creates your place in history.

Kevin Durant showed up on the iconic court and dominated, creating a memory that is now known as “Rucker 66.” It was an electrifying performance under the lights on an August night in New York, in which DC’s finest visited the mecca of basketball and left a legend.

No player’s resume is complete without a great performance at Rucker. What KD proved on his visit uptown is that whether it’s in the arena or in the cage, his game is coming with him. To commemorate KD’s performance, Nike Basketball has released a limited quantity of KD “Rucker 66″ T-Shirts at the Footlocker House of Hoops in Harlem.

Basketball never stops!

This past Saturday night KD led his Goodman League squad to victory of the visiting Drew League at “Capital Punishment”. Kevin participated in the game with NBA studs such as John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, DeMar DeRozan, James Harden and Brandon Jennings. Here are some highlights from the event:

Shout out to The Mars Reel and HoopMixtape for the footage