July 3, 2018 | Liam Blutman, CBN
Week 2 of the Big3 took place in Chicago, Illinois. Killer 3’s, Tri-State, Power, and 3 Headed Monsters came out victorious. Among those to thrive at the United Center were: Baron Davis, Nate Robinson, Rashard Lewis, and Stephen Jackson.
The two teams that definitely stand out from the rest are the Power and Tri-State. Nancy Lieberman has led the Power to a quick 2-0 start in her first season. The Power have played a physical brand of basketball and are playing some very good defense. The only player to get anything going against them today was Baron Davis who dropped 27 Points. The Power look like a legit contender this season behind the trio of Corey Maggette, Glen Davis, and Cuttino Mobley. Then we have Tri-State who has simply dominated with two 51-34 wins coming against the defending champs, Trilogy and the Ball Hogs. The majority of fans in attendance are rooting for Tri-State when they play in due part to Big3 fan favorite, Nate Robinson. Nate had another great performance tonight which featured nasty crossovers, a 4-Point shot, and some acrobatic layups.
Trilogy moved to 0-2 after losing to 3 Headed Monsters 50-34. While Al Harrington had a productive game offensively he and the rest of Trilogy were playing very frustrated which caused the game to become very sloppy and it wasn’t a great sight. Rashad McCants went down with a leg injury after slipping on a wet spot when he tried to help up Harrington. You really could tell that the refs lost control of this game which is very unfortunate considering how important that aspect of the game is in 3 on 3. Refs can’t be making decisions just because a coach yelled at them to do so, that’s just sad, these refs can’t let themselves get bullied into making calls. As fans of this league we don’t want to watch guys hitting each other, slipping, players and coaches yelling at refs constantly who don’t retaliate, and have a free throw contest break out. We also don’t want to see players grab onto the opposition and attempt to clothesline them when they get by. That just wasn’t the game to show the great product the Big3 has and that shouldn’t happen again.
My player of the week goes to Stephen “Stak” Jackson of the Killer 3’s. In a 50-44 win, Stak dropped 28 points while shooting 10-15 and draining 5 3’s. This was a huge bounceback game for Stak and the Killer 3’s after losing big to 3’s Company in week one. To see Stak score 28 was very promising for the Killer 3’s as Chauncey Billups still hasn’t played and it’s great to see they have a reliable scorer with Billups out. When Chauncey returns, him and Stephen are sure to be a deadly duo beyond the arc creating interesting defensive game-planning from opponents. This could free up the 7-Footer, Ryan Hollins in the paint.
Next week the Big3 heads to Oakland, California. The Ball Hogs and Ghost Ballers will play and we’ll finally see one of those teams in the win column. Following that the Power take on Tri-State and unfortunately one of these teams will take their first loss this season. The 1-1 Killer 3’s have a date with the 2-0 3 Headed Monsters. The night concludes with a game between the 0-2 Trilogy and 3’s Company. Game 1 tips off at 4 PM Pacific Time and I look forward to another successful week of the Big3.
During their second season/second week this past Friday, the BIG3 League broadcasted a game that reached a whopping 1.03 million viewers and 0.3/1 rating/share on Fox Sports (Deadline.com).
Talk about #BIGMOOD. The production even trailed two repeats on both CBS and NBC.
The high ratings come as no surprise, as fans get to watch their favourites dominate the court while also bringing a sense of nostalgia to their TV screens.
For fans out of the hoop: The BIG3 is a 3-on-3 pro basketball league created by Ice Cube and Jeff Kwatinetz, featuring former NBA stars like Metta World Peace, Carlos Boozer, Nate Robinson and Kwame Brown.
You can keep up with the exciting BIG3 games every Friday night.