By Trevor Kapp

At 3 p.m. yesterday, the time the game between the #5 Generals and #1 Rosedale Trail Blazers was set to start, the Generals were inside the Cage at West 4th Street going hard through warm-ups. Their opponents strolled in leisurely 20 minutes after and as a tournament director got on their case for showing up late, one player remarked, “Man, that’s no way to treat an undefeated team.”

If he thought a little yelling was bad, that wouldn’t even compare to what the Generals had in mind for the next 90 minutes. The underdogs jumped out to a 35-18 lead with about six minutes left in the 2nd quarter, controlling the pace and showing that once August comes around, regular-season record means nothing. Read More »

Sean Armand went for 26 first-half points, but it wasn’t enough.

The sun shone brightly over West 4th Street Saturday afternoon as the NJ Trail Blazers’s jumped out to a 10-point first-half lead against Money Inc. But as the sky changed during the second half, the complexion of the game did too.

Muff Collins and Raphael Edwards dropped 28 points each as Money Inc. rallied to knock off the NJ Trail Blazers, 97-84.

The Trail Blazers’s 17-year-old stud Sean Armand netted a game-high 36, 26 coming in the first half. Read More »

John “The Franchise” Strickland was almost perfect from the line Sunday.

John Strickland’s free throw hit the front rim, then the back rim, where it sat for a couple seconds, before rolling through the net at West 4th Street Sunday. It was that type of day for the “Franchise,” who is back to add another season to his already storied NYC basketball career.

Strickland dropped 30 points, including 7-of-8 from the free-throw line, for United Brooklyn in a 105-92 win over the Gym Rats.

Darren “Primal Fear” Phillip added 29 as the Gym Rats had no answer for the veteran bigs. Read More »

Miguel Millien, seen here last summer at West 4th, dropped 18 points for Pick & Roll.

Kenny Graham’s orange and purple West 4th Street tournament banner hung along the East side fence Sunday afternoon as the sun shone brightly over the handballers in the background. On the south side of the park, women, as customary, occupied the 10 or so seats behind the basket and people dressed in all different styles crowded up against the West-side fence to catch a glimpse of this perennial warm-weather exhibition. The 32nd West 4th Street tournament is officially underway, marking the beginning of another New York City basketball summer that promises to be full of highlights and heroics. Read More »

Someone told me that Rick Apodaca has the most phenomenal jumper he’d ever seen. I think I agree. Seeing day after day the practices of Carife Ferrara in the Italian League and Apodaca taking his jumpers, I can admire the harmony of his movement, the glide in the air just before the release of the ball from the hands.

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Thousands of times in the United States people told me: “are you italian? Ciao amigo, ciao bbella, pizza, spaghetti, mafia, mandolino!!! Italy? Soccer!!”.  Thousands of times I answer : “mmmhhh, what’s wrong with you man ?”. The stereotypes who involve italian people in the world are always the same, some are true, some are false. I think I ride the false side. Read More »