NEW YORK, April 5 — A staple of driveways everywhere, a H-O-R-S-E competition among top NBA players could be coming to national television in the near future, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Saturday.
The NBA and ESPN are finalising the details, with each player possibility participating from their own home gym, as person-to-person interaction is limited during the coronavirus pandemic.
In a typical game of two or more players, if a competitor makes a shot, the competitor to follow has to make the identical shot or earn a letter in the word “horse.” A player is eliminated when their collection of missed shots spell “horse.”
Renewed interest in the game was sparked in 1993, when Larry Bird and Michael Jordan played a game of H-O-R-S-E during a McDonald’s commercial created for the Super Bowl.
In 2009, the NBA introduced a version of the game during All-Star Weekend festivities, although it was called G-E-I-C-O. It lasted two years and Kevin Durant, then of the Oklahoma City Thunder, won both times. The Phoenix Suns’ Paul Westphal also won an NBA-sanctioned game of H-O-R-S-E during the 1977-78 season.
The league has been creative during the suspension of the season due to the pandemic. It began a players-only NBA 2K Tournament on Friday, with the top-seeded Durant falling to 16th seed Derrick Jones Jr of the Miami Heat in the opener. — Reuters
