Basketball Manitoba would like to thank the thousands of basketball fans who came out over the weekend at The Forks to take in the second annual NBA Jam Session! Special thanks to our 25+ volunteers who helped make the weekend a success and to NBA Canada and their crews for staging the basketball festival. Congratulations to the winners of the 3 divisions from the 3on3 tournament held on Sunday including the Longshots (pictured to the left) who won their second 19+ men's division title, earning them a trip to Halifax in September for the national final! Congratulations go out to Glover 'Action' Jackson for taking the dunk competition title with guest NBA Legend judge Dee Brown in attendance and Manitoba 15U Provincial Team Member Joseph Medrano for winning the HP Long Distance Shootout on Saturday. NBA Jam Session will be back again in the summer of 2012! Check out our 150+ photos we took at the event on our Facebook page. Read the story from Armaan Ahluwalia with a recap on the weekend from North Pole Hoops at...
NBA Jam Session Stops in Winnipeg
FOLLOW ARMAAN AHLUWALIA ON TWITTER @THEREALBRINDIAN & NPH @NORTHPOLEHOOPS
WINNIPEG, MB-- “Hoop It Up” was always circled on the calendar for many basketball fans in the Winnipeg Community. So when the new NBA Jam Session rolled into town for its second Canadian Tour Stop, many people flocked to the forks to take in the street court basketball action.
The Jam Session was a two day event with the first day of the weekend mainly being about fun games and contests. In the scorching hot Winnipeg weather there was a lot to take in with countless NBA Jam Session sponsors setting up tents and courts to showcase their brands. Among these brands was the Right Guard, Rogers and Black Diamond courts setting up for the following day finals.
On Saturday, there were a few contests and NBA type personalities gracing the courts. NBA Legend Dee Brown who was famous for his “No Look Dunk” which won him the 1991 slam dunk contest was hanging out on the courts and was a judge for the dunk contest.
The Glover ‘action’ Jackson took home the dunk contest that day. The Raptors also had their presence known as Kat and Char from the Raptors Dance Pak team came out to do a dance show for the fans.
Slamson, the Sacramento Kings Mascot made the trip and put on a few cool moves and trick shots to wow the crowd.
Buckets Blake from the Harlem Globetrotters was in attendance and talked to the kids about a few life lessons as well as put on a display of some of his Globetrotter talents. The three-point shootout was won by 15U Manitoba player Joseph Medrano who had a solid performance at the nationals a few weeks ago.
Day two of the weekend was the day strictly for games. There were a few main divisions such as the 15U division which was won by “Peg City Ballers”. This team had Joseph Medrano and a few other Sisler teammates who took home the gold in the final game.
The 16-18 Division was won by “John Taylor Gang” by a slim margin in an extremely competitive game against the “Multiple Scorers”. This game came down to the wire but John Taylor gang held on eclipsing the Multiple Scorers by two points.
The marquee game of the tournament was 19+ event where the winner of the division would get a free trip to Halifax to play against all of the winners from the other tour stops in Canada.
The “Longshots” managed to edge the other team which was led by former University of Manitoba Bisons star Ian Dickey. The game started out rough as both teams were getting extremely physical leaving everything on the line. A few dirty fouls were traded back and forth as neither team would give an inch. The “Longshots” managed to start out with a 7-3 lead but the lead was brought to within reach by the other team. At the end of regulation there was a tie and they would need overtime where the “Longshots” hit a two pointer (3 pointer in non streetball) to seal the deal and advance to play in the finals in Halifax on September the 10-11th. This was the "Longshots" second 19+ division title.
Executive Director of Basketball Manitoba, Adam Wedlake spoke to NPH about the event and what it means for the city of Winnipeg.
“The NBA Jam Session brings a different basketball experience to our local players to the city for a fun weekend of outdoor hoops! It was a perfect weekend weather-wise at the Forks, and it was great to see the basketball community out to take it all in!”
Photo Courtesy: Basketball Manitoba