The tournament at Gersh Park has quickly become my favorite to attend and create my shots from the sidelines. It has all of the makings of a top tier summer tournament in NYC. Great DJ? Check. Great announcer? Check. Does it attract the Mecca of basketball's top players? Check. All of those are key ingredients to a great tournament, but it's the raw, unfiltered energy the East New York, Brooklyn crowd brings that keeps me going back for more. Check the video below for a glimpse at the action.
Back home from some traveling, I finally caught up to Gersh during the playoffs and was able to catch what could have been the best head-to-head battle of the year. Erving "I-95" Walker of the Unusual Suspects faced off head-to-head against Brownsville Never Ran, Never Will's Levance Fields in a win-or-go-home quarterfinal match up. Both played major division I basketball, Walker with the Florida Gators and Fields at the University of Pittsburgh in the Big East of old. So, the big crowd and the bright lights were nothing new to these two Brooklyn natives.
Levance Fields put up 31 in a memorable and thrilling match up against fellow Brooklynite Erving Walker in what could have been the game of the summer in NYC.
In addition to my stills I decided to shoot some video and attempt to capture the singular atmosphere at Gersh Park, NYC's hottest tournament. I also had the chance to share the sidelines with my great friend and fellow shooter, Kevin Couliau (@asphaltchronicles) who is in town from France for a few days. It's always great catching up with Kevin, who co-directed Doin it in the Park: Pick-up Basketball NYC with Bobbito Garcia and hoops as well. Looking forward to capturing some of the other summer tournaments as they wrap up their seasons and prepare for the annual Tournament of Champions.
Erving Walker breezes by defender after defender en route to two of his game high 31 points on the night at Gersh Park.
I'll be back soon with more images from the West 4th and Hoops in the Sun championship games as well as from the Touranament of Champions next week. In the meantime, be sure to follow me on Instagram (@jonlopez13) and Twitter (@JonLopezOne3) for more of my images.