Jason Terry vs. Rudy Gay: Call Of Duty’s Ultimate Showdown, Pt. 2

Tyreke Evans/Deron Williams, Part 1

It’s no secret NBA players LOVE video games. And the holy grail of gaming (at least this generation) has to include the Call Of Duty series. Call Of Duty: Black Ops is the latest in the series, and the latest map pack called “Annihilation”, which dropped yesterday, includes four brand new playable multiplayer and zombie maps.

Yesterday at Treyarch Studios in Santa Monica, California, the designers brought out two NBA players, new champion Jason Terry as well as Memphis’ Rudy Gay, to wage war on the sticks and test out the new maps. The results? The JET’s squad got it done 4-2, the veteran once again winning in six and backing up the tough talk (maybe another tattoo is in order?)

But before all that, I got the chance to chat with them on everything from Black Ops to the lockout to who’s the best NBA player on the sticks.

(Back in May for Part 1 in this series, I caught up with Tyreke Evans and Deron Williams while they played the map pack “Escalation” when it first dropped.)

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Dime: How did you guys get involved with the Call of Duty team?
Jason Terry: Well they know we play a lot of video games. A lot of NBA players historically have been huge video gamers and this is nothing different. I could give all the credit to my agent, Byron Irvin, but I think they knew we played video games and they’re excited to have us.
Rudy Gay: Same thing. Nah, just kiddin’ (laughs). I’ve just always been a fan of Call of Duty. I’ve tweeted about it, talked about it. I’ve done all the things. I dunno. I guess they just found out that I’m a little bit better than Jet (laughs).

Dime: Have you guys checked out the new maps yet or are you doing that later?
JT: Well, we actually went in for a little practice round and now we are going back for the real thing.

Dime: Okay. What do you think about the new maps?
JT: The new maps are crazy.
RG: I’ve pretty much played all the other ones and worn that out so anytime they come up with something new, something unfamiliar to you, you get addicted to it.

Dime: For both of you, how often would you say you play Call of Duty and then video games in general?
RG: Aw man. I said this before, it’s a good way to kind of get our mind off of things and strictly focus on the game. We have a stressful schedule. We have stressful lives. In the game, you can’t think about anything but that.
JT: I’m very superstitious so it’s a part of my every-game ritual. So after shootaround or something, I go right to the house, get my two or three games in and I’m good for the day. So it’s an every day thing for me.

Dime: Okay. As far as Call of Duty goes, any specific weapons you like or any perks?
RG: The only weapon I like is the one you don’t gotta be close to them ‘cus I’ll get shook (laughs).
JT: For me, I’m more of a hand-to-hand combat guy so I like all the sneaky tactics, the bombs, the grenades. Anything where I can sneak up on you and then kinda surprise you. The element of surprise.

Dime: What about on your separate teams? Is there anyone that kinda obsesses over video games? Who’s the best NBA player you’ve seen on the sticks?
RG: I say Mike Conley.
JT: Ah…It’s hard to say in my locker room because if you play guys for a month and then they don’t wanna play you anymore, then you really already know who’s the best.

Dime: Now to get to basketball, Jet I gotta ask you: what’s the craziest thing that’s happened to you since you guys won the title? I saw Dirk got a parade in his hometown. Can you top that?
JT: Ah man, it’s really been low key for me. The craziest thing is probably…man, I can’t really say. I mean the parade was really crazy, 250,000 people flooded out throughout the streets. People on parking garages, on top of buildings. I mean that was crazy for me. It was an unreal feeling being on a float with Dirk, Jason Kidd and then my family. It was real tight. That was nice.

Dime: And then for Rudy, talk about your summer a little bit. In Memphis, you guys have really turned it around in the last 18 months or so. Did you always expect all of this to work out?
RG: Yeah, I mean the whole plan was when they broke the team up a while ago was just to break the team up to make it better. So we made the right steps to try to get to the point where we can be a contender.

Dime: Now what was that like watching that whole playoff run from the sidelines?
RG: Aw man, it was terrible. I can’t explain how I felt. My hands were sweaty, I really didn’t know how to sit. But you know what? It made me better for the future. You know because I can’t say I’ve played in the playoffs but I can say I watched them up close and personal, watched the preparation and now I know what to get into.

Dime: With the possible lockout coming up, I’ve talked to some guys who say their summer timing is thrown off. They normally have a specific schedule â€“ how long into the summer they work out for, when they start to scale stuff back before training camps â€“ how big of a factor do you think that is? Will we see effects once the season does start?
RG: Well nah. I don’t think so. To be honest with you, there’s certain people that need to keep working out and feel they should be doing it whether it’s a workout or not and certain people that don’t have to. So nah, I don’t think it’s gonna change at all. People are gonna come in, and that’s all on your organization, what they plan to do to get you back to where you need to be.

To be honest with you, no matter when the preseason starts, no matter it it’s regular or if there is a lockout, people are gonna come in out of shape. So that don’t matter.

Dime: And what did you guys think about the draft? Anything that surprise you at all?
RG: I mean I couldn’t pronounce half of the kids’ names that were in the draft. I guess that surprised me (laughs).
JT: I was just gonna say the draft was incredible.

Dime: And how do you think your teams did? Jet, you guys got a legit NBA player in Rudy Fernandez. And Rudy, I’m sure you’re probably familiar with Selby being from Baltimore.
RG: Josh, he has the potential to be very great, very great at this game. Being that he’s from Baltimore, I guess I can have a hand in trying to make him into the player he wants to be or whatever he wants to be. Obviously, we all know what he can do and now he has to put it on the biggest stage.
JT: Our draft, we are looking forward to free agency, whenever this lockout gets settled. That will be our draft for us. Obviously, we traded away our picks, so we’ll see what happens.

Dime: Whenever next season does come up, for Rudy do you think it’ll be an adjustment working yourself back in or are you at all worried about that?
RG: Nah, I’m not worried about that. I mean, it’s the NBA. If you don’t fit in, somebody else will take your place. You know what I’m sayin’?

Dime: And then for Jet, they always say defending a title is harder. Teams are coming for you, everyone has what Pat Riley calls the “disease of more.” Do you think it can get any harder than it was trying to overcome 2006 and then getting back and finally winning it?
JT: Well each year is unique. Every year is different. So we expect the best. If you watch the NBA Playoffs this season, this was the most competitive since I’ve been around in my 12 years of just watching and being a fan of the game. This was great playoff basketball. You had two great young teams in Memphis and Oklahoma (City). And I’m only talking about the Western Conference. In our conference alone, it’s always getting tougher and tougher every year. Obviously, defending a championship is going to be a huge challenge for us.

Dime: Who do you see that are gonna be the toughest competitors in the West?
JT: Well you gotta start at the top with the Lakers and San Antonio, but Memphis and Oklahoma. All these teams, they’re young and athletic. Everybody’s hungry. Everybody’s hungry to knock off the champs which we did this year. Now obviously we are going to have that label. But for us, we are just trying to prolong this thing and win another one. How many more years can we get it done? It’s yet to be seen.

Dime: With Rudy, the area of Memphis seems like they are so excited about you guys. Can you talk about what that was like going through the playoffs?
RG: It was amazing because I’ve been there since day one. I know what it is. There were times it was hard to get people in there. To see the fans come out and support us all playoffs, it really is kinda touching.

Dime: As far as the Call of Duty action today, do you guys got any predictions or any specific strategy you’re gonna try to use today?
RG: Nah, kill or be killed (laughs).
JT: I’m counting on my teammates (laughs).