By: Liam Blutman
Can you believe it? It’s already week 6 of the BIG3’s third season! There were three games played this week, all of them in Salt Lake City, Utah. It’s a bye week for half the league while the other half of the league performs for the fans at Vivint Smart Home Arena.
First game up… Killer 3’s and 3’s Company. Andre Emmett starred in the first half with 10 points and 6 rebounds but his team trailed at the break 26-22 at half thanks toKiller 3’s CJ Watson and Stephen Jackson who combined for 17. And then the 2nd half commenced and the Killer 3’s got hit hard by Andre Emmett, punch after punch being dealt by last seasons MVP candidate. Andre ended the game with 24 points, 14 rebounds, and one made 4. He sliced and diced up the opposition en route to a 51-41 win. As 3’s Company moves to 3-3, one question remains… Will the good 3-point shooting ever return? They only made one three today in addition to a four by Emmett and I can’t help but worry about them down the stretch because of their lackluster shooting from deep. As for Killer 3’s, you slip up and fall to 4-2 and while a playoff spot will still be held your room for failure just got a lot slimmer. You can’t slip up again in the coming weeks if you want to compete for the crown, you just can’t afford it! The best performer today was Donte Greene who thrived in the 2nd half and ended the game with 14 points thanks to four 3’s. Killer 3’s will play Bivouac next week while 3’s Company pairs up with Aliens.
Next game up featured the Triplets and Ball Hogs. The oddsmakers set the line at 11.5 in favor of Triplets for this one as they sensed the pretty big mismatch between these two as many of us would agree with. Perhaps the craziest stat in the BIG3? Ball Hogs have never been .500 in this league. That’s in any of the three seasons, they’ve never had a winning percentage of 50% or greater. That is just astounding eh? Today’s game was close for a bit, much to everybody’s surprise as it was tied at 14 in the first half. Then Joe Johnson was kind of like, yeah this is not happening. Joe simply went off and Triplets led 26-14 at half thanks to Iso Joe and the 16 points, 3 steals, two 3’s, and a four. That’s one heck of a first half. That’s nuts, it was nuts. Joe is just locked in period and in my opinion, he’s your MVP front runner at this very moment. In the 2nd half not much changed aside from Joe taking his foot off the gas. He finished the night with 21 points, 4 steals, 3 3’s and a four. Excellence. One crazy stat, today was the first day where Joe Johnson subbed out of a game all season, sheesh! The newest Triplet, Jamario Moon tallied a slim 2 points and 2 rebounds in the 51-34 win. I relayed a question over to coach, Lisa Leslie, via Lamar Lundy of Champions Basketball Network. I was curious about what prompted the trade for Moon and how they plan to use him in the coming weeks. She said the following. “Overall it just helps us get stronger. Jamario is actually a player that we wanted from the start, we wanted him in the draft and he got picked a lot earlier. But it all worked out for the best, we got a player that we know is a piece that can really help us. He’s versatile, it’s great to have a sub that can come in and play the point, forward, or big. Plus he’s just a great guy that’s willing to do anything for us to win!” Jamario could be seen smiling from ear to ear as Lisa raved about him! For the Ball Hogs it was Will McDonald with another good game as he scored 14 points and 8 rebounds and continues to thrive on the worst team in the league. For now, Ball Hogs anxiously await season four and the BIG3 Draft. But first the 0-6 team will play Trilogy next week whilst the 5-1 Triplets square off with 3 Headed Monsters.
Your final game of the day and week for that matter… Aliens and Bivouac. At halftime Bivouac led 26-20 as Anthony Morrow and Josh Smith excelled early. Morrow managed to score 13 while Smith pitched in with 6 points and 8 boards. On the other end, Aliens had two good performances at the half. Brandon Rush scored 9 whilst splashing a three and a four and Greg Oden continued his good rookie season with 6 points and 6 rebounds. The 2nd half was pretty interesting as the Aliens nearly nearly capped off an incredible comeback thanks to Brandon Rush’s outstanding performance, 23 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, a block, three 3’s, and a four. Amazing game from Rush. But Bivouac held on for a 50-47 win. Morrow finished with 19 to lead the army of ants in scoring. But, Josh Smith stole the show with one of the BIG3’s best performances of the season. JSmoove stuffed the stat sheet with 18 points, 15 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals. This Bivouac win propels them to 3-3, while the Aliens drops to 3-3. Bivouac will play the Killer 3’s while the Aliens play 3’s Company.
That’s it for week 6 of the BIG3’s third season! Hope y’all enjoyed the games in Salt Lake City! The crowd was excellent tonight so maybe, just maybe a return to SLC is necessary! Next week you’ll see games in Rosemont, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Make sure to secure your tickets!
Follow Lamar Lundy on Instagram @TheeeRealMVP
And you can follow me on Instagram @ReporterLiam
Thanks!
