Majestic. Prestigious. The Mecca.

All of the above have been used to describe Madison Square Garden and none of them are wrong. Even New Yorkers that will never touch the Garden floor call MSG home, but the players and posse that make up the NRF understand it more intimately-and they call it their playground. The All-Star game was for bragging rights but it was more for fun than anything else. However, the NRF’s second stop at Madison Square this season was for everything. While Huarache and Air Force 1 took very different paths to the ‘chip, they’d both put in the work to rep their conferences and last night, they lived up to the billing as the two best teams the league had to offer.

The action started right away with Chad Easterling driving the lane and making an errant scoop layup and a much needed and one in the coming minutes, giving the Shox some momentum as they were down early. The first half was business as usual for Huarache, led by MVP candidate Terance Takyi who nailed a triple and made a hot knife through butter pass through the Shox defense to Roscoe (12 points, six rebounds) for a layup and a 17-4 lead.

Most of the players arrived well before the 7 p.m. start and, for the most part, they all seemed jovial. The mood was light as ‘what’s up’s?’ and daps were exchanged. The NRF crew finally arrives-Bernard, Little B, Sai and The Commish, and things get set up.

Mood: Still jovial.

Nothing truly changes until Lil’ Wayne booms through the speakers. That when the smiles turn to scowls, the laughter turns to lyrics and it seems to set in with the players that in 40 minutes, someone’s season is coming to a close.

The night cap for this week defined what March Madness is all about. Players realizing that there’s only one rule come this time of year: survive and advance. Purple person, Bang-Bang “I shot ya down” Takenouchi played superb defense all game and came out with a purpose from the jump.

Yesterday was a tough day to be a basketball official in NYC, with tournament games on your agenda. Hours after missed calls and mishaps at MSG in the Big East matchup between Rutgers and St. John’s, the NRF had a controversial ending, which would have made Skip Bayless make one of his famous winded-rants.

This is the matchup that Delta Force had been craving all season: A chance to knock off reigning MVP Scott Williams and end the Uptempo’s annual appearance on the Garden floor. It’s been over a month since the two teams have met in what ended in a 49-41 victory for DF and it was clear that neither team forgot how close that game was, as the elbows and trash talk were spewing all over the court.

I won’t go as far to say that beating Huarache has been impossible but obviously, it hasn’t been done this season. Hyperflight showed everyone what they’re capable of with their true starting five, when they took out the veteran crew of Generation last week. While the Wu’s Kung Fu has been better than everyone else’s, the long layoff between games is something they’ve been worried about. If the Hyperflight ever had a chance to pull an upset, this was the week to do it. Unfortunately for the Hypemen, they didn’t show up-literally.

The Defending champion Uptempo team came out hot from the opening tip, with a spin to the rim from Terrence Chin-word to Clyde Frazier-to start the game with a 7-0 run. The Termies couldn't get on board until Dan Gladstone hit a runner in the lane and Omar Grant (10 points, five rebounds, four steals) made a lay-up over two defenders to keep the  deficit at seven (11-0 Uptempo). The boys in blue, built on the lead (18-7, 9:08 in the first) but neither team was able to finish on most of their fast-break opportunities. 

"Everyone makes the playoffs"

Whenever a team had a tough loss, or even sometimes as a reminder for teams not to get too comfortable, the fact that the post-season is promised to all was constantly uttered in the NRF. Generation and Hyperfuse were two teams banking on the fact that they had a spot in the second-season. Both teams had rough regular seasons but come March 2nd, everyone starts back at zero. 

While the NBA is preparing to toast tinsel town with it’s best, brightest and most beastly dunkers, scorers and playmakers, the NRF league’s top talent of the season picked this past Friday to put on a show. The exclusivity of the league is what draws people, but it’s the exclusive people who make it go. The creative crew that shapes the media, music, sports and fashion that NYC moves to, express themselves in both their professions and on the hardwood. So where would such a lucky group spend display their All-Star worthy hoop skills? Madison Square Garden.