All photos by Kevin Couliau for www.asphalt-chronicles.com.

Yesterday, the West 4th St. Tournament staged their annual All-Star Game. As a member of the Gym Rats, myself and Rocco Rubino were selected.

I first played at the Cage in 1993 with coach Sid Jones’ United Brooklyn and saw limited time. I hit the hallowed ground again in 1997 with Panama’s crew and contributed a little more but no real highlights I can remember. This season, however, at the wonderful age of 42, I’ve connected on 50% of my threes (7 for 14) in the three games I’ve played, and have helped our squad to a record of 2-1 since I joined (we were winless before). I was amped when the tournament director Rick Johnson asked if I’d rock with them for the All-Star contest. No doubt!

I was hoping to see Mookie, Strick, Mike Campbell, etc. there yesterday. Read More »

Last December was the French All Star Game, the best native players against the foreign players of our 1st pro division (Pro A). Around 15 000 fans gathered in Paris, not only for a simple basketball game but also for the main attraction : the dunk contest. As it is broadcasted on National TV, some great dunkers like Kadour Ziani, the De Blaine brothers, Steve Lobel or Guy Dupuy entered in our dunk ” hall of fame” and basketball history. Each year there’s a big emulation on “who’s gonna compete ? what each guy is able to do…” , this edition was special because two great well known high flyers came from the States : Kevin ” Golden Child ” Kemp and Justin Darlington. I went lucky to get in the backstages of this contest so just enjoy the pictures and video below.

Justin Darlington, Nobel Boungou Colo , Kevin Kemp, Max Kouguere, Yann de Blaine

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