TONIGHT, the Mackenzie Sports Club Hard Court will be transformed into a battle ground for the top six 3-on-3 teams in Linden as they seek to make their claim of the $1M first prize in the inaugural Mackeson Smooth Moves basketball tournament. Titans, Assassins, Jets, Ghetto, Victory Valley Royals and Unknowns are the teams set to do battle for the Linden Zone title and where the top four will be selected to represent the district in the round-of-16.
On Sunday October 2, Victory Valley Royals, led by their captain and star player Chris Williams, set the tone for the entire tournament at the launching when they made it clear that ‘big names’ mean nothing in the Mackeson 3-on-3.
Royals went five and ‘O’ on the night thanks to their unselfishness, team strategy and most of all, the sharp shooting from Williams.
But just when the spectators thought that they had seen it all, former junior National standout Orin ‘Six-Heads’ Rose came out literally ‘gunning’ as he set the nets at the MSC Hard Court on fire to lead his side ‘Unknowns’ to the Linden Zone finals, also playing unbeaten.
The absence of the game from the town, known for being fanatics where sports is concerned but The tournament rejuvenated the rivalry which once brought out the best in the country.
It is now a showdown between two players who have proved to be the best shooters in Linden recently – Rose and Williams – and knowing their high level of competitiveness, certainly fans will be in for a treat.
Jets, though not playing undefeated, are also expected to make the round-of-16.
Equipped with the quickness of guard Kevin ‘2-feet’ Joseph, the dominant Shane Webster, power forward Lawrence De Costa and Leonard Caleb, the team from the Amelia’s Ward area have turned some heads.
While the competition was able to slow Joseph down, there was no stopping Webster who made his debut to international basketball when he represented Guyana at the 2011 Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Championship in the Bahamas.
Ghetto have no big-name players among them, except for guard Anson Durant and Dwight Cooper, who have proved to be very effective inside the paint.
As an incentive, the winning team of tonight’s zone will receive $40 000 while the second-placed team will pocket $10 000.