The Harlem Globetrotters stopped at Barclays Center on Sunday afternoon as part of its 100th anniversary tour.
The exhibition team beat the Washington Generals, 105-103, with a game-winning putback dunk — just one spectacle of dozens that entertained the Brooklyn crowd.
The New York game was a homecoming for some of the Globetrotters, including Harlem native “Hot Shot” Swanson.
“This is home. Every day, this is what you dreamed of,” Swanson told Brooklyn Paper. “When you was a kid, you practiced in that park and you said one day you’re going to be playing at the Garden, one day you’re going to be playing at Barclays. Kids that are here today, we are living proof for them.”
The Globetrotters have performed for over 143 million fans and in 124 countries around the world, combining athleticism, showmanship and comedy, rather than traditional gameplay.
Founded in 1926, the team has spent a century turning that formula into a global institution, earning induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame along the way.
On Sunday, some fans got the opportunity to take photos with players and learn how to spin a basketball on their finger before the game.
After the game, all fans were able to go courtside and get autographs from the players: guard “Wham” Middleton said he knows that the team did a great job entertaining fans that day if people stay for the session.
“You never know what you’re gonna get at a Globetrotters game unless you come, and Barclays is always going to be a great, amazing game,” Middleton said to Brooklyn Paper.
Similarly, Swanson said that sometimes fans don’t even have anything for the players to sign postgame, they simply want to thank the players for putting on an amazing show.
“It’s the best feeling,” he said.
The actual basketball was played in 10-minute quarters, but was broken up by various hijinks hosted by showman “Hammer” Harrison, a Brooklyn native who is the longest tenured Globetrotter.
One highlight of the game was Hammer entering the crowd and borrowing a bag of popcorn from a young fan to then dump it on the referee’s head. The kid – who had just lost his popcorn — then got to come on the court and was presented with a massive bag of popcorn in return. The kid was shocked, then thrilled.
Hammer quipped that the bag was bigger than the kid.
In another bit, the Globetrotters instructed fans to lift their kids in the air as the arena speakers blasted “Circle of Life” from Disney’s “The Lion King.” Kids laughed as their parents held them up, mimicking the film’s iconic scene while the crowd cheered.
The unpredictable fun of the Harlem Globetrotters’ 100th anniversary tour continues through North America until April. Their next stop in New York is on Long Island on Feb. 21.
Brooklyn native “Cheese” Chisholm told Brooklyn Paper that playing on the 100th anniversary team was special because not a lot of brands, or even people, can last for that long.
“To be able to keep this torch lit, that I know a lot of greats before me have done before me, it’s an honor. There’s nothing like a Globetrotter game. It’s about how we get the fans interacting in the game with us,” Chisholm said. “That’s what makes this job special.”
