Reigning NBL MVP Gary Ervin has been impressing for the United Brooklyn team in the Nike Pro City tournament, making a critical play as his side beat The Uptowners on Thursday night.
Ervin, who is currently mulling free agent offers from a number of NBL teams including the Adelaide 36ers and his 2010/11 club Wollongong, stripped streetball legend Adris ‘2Hard2Guard’ DeLeon on the fast break and then scored at the other end to help seal United Brooklyn’s hard-fought 107-102 victory over the Uptowners.
The play impressed DeLeon, who was previously a teammate of Ervin’s on the Halifax Rainmen of the Canadian Premier Basketball League.
“That was a big, big play,” DeLeon told the New York Post. “He’s a true competitor and he never backs down from nothing. I learned a lot about him.”
Ervin scored 17 points on 6-of-16 shooting, as well as adding five assists, five rebounds and three steals but it was his clutch play late in the game that really turned heads. He also played great defence on another DeLeon drive and nailed two clutch free throws to put the game away with 9.9 remaining, pushing a three-point lead to five.
“That’s what I pride myself on, my defence,” Ervin said. “Last year I averaged almost 40 points per game at Nike Pro City, but with this team, we’re so talented, I can work on what I love to do.”
Ervin said he liked using the Summer leagues in the US to continually work on his game.
“I took what I did in the summer and brought it with me to Australia,” he said. “I came with that hunger. Some people use the summer to relax and have fun, but I used it to get that hunger back to be one of the best players in the city.”
The mercurial guard made no secret of the fact that he saw the NBL as a means to an end.
“Getting MVP speaks for itself; that was one of the things I strived for,” he said. “It was a great stepping stone to get my career off to where I wanted it to be.”
