It’s playoff time in the BIG3 and there are four viable contenders for the Julius Erving Championship Trophy this summer. The defending champion Enemies are in the mix to make it two in a row but the rest of the field is looking for the chance to bring home their franchise’s first. That includes Dr. J’s squad Tri-State. The Nashville crowd is in for a couple of good ones this Sunday.
- Bivouac (7-1):
They’ve been the best team for a majority of the year and have arguably the MVP in Corey Brewer. Brewer has not only gotten it done on both sides of the ball but he helped lead this Bivouac squad to their most wins in franchise history. In fact, it’s the first time a team has won seven games in a season since the 2019 Triplets did it and they went on to win the whole thing. Brewer and this team led by Gary Payton have played menacing defense all season. The former Florida Gator leads the league in steals and blocks while the team is in the top third in both categories as a whole. Additionally, he’s top-5 in the league in points and rebounds. His counterpart Garlon Green is the only player that’s snagged more boards this season and his play makes this a scary 1-2 punch. They hustle to lose balls, can switch everything on defense, and put points on the board so it’s going to make them a tough out. This will be the first time they matchup against Tri-State this year but, on paper, it looks like a team that could do what Enemies did last year.
- 3’s Company (6-2):
For the first time since losing the 2018 BIG3 Championship, 3’s Company is back in the playoffs and has the depth to make some noise. Michael Beasley has once again been one of the top scorers in the league but they also have the supporting cast to back him up. Reggie Evans has always been one of the best rebounders in the league and is the lone player on this team who’s played in a BIG3 championship. Add in a couple shot makers in Mario Chalmers and Rookie of the Year candidate Nasir Core alongside one of the top shot blockers in Sean Williams and it’s hard to find weaknesses in their game. The one thing that has slowed them down has been when other guys outside of Beasley are having off games. In their two losses, every player except for Beasley had 10 points or less so it’ll be vital that they are on point during the playoffs. Add in the fact that they play an Enemies team they dominated in Week 8 to get to the playoffs and they’ll certainly have their hands full. But this team might have played their best brand of basketball in the season finale. We’ll see if it carries over into the postseason.
- Enemies (6-2):
The defending champion Enemies have a chance to be the second team in BIG3 history to win back-to-back titles. That being said, they’re also the team that has struggled the most coming into the playoffs of the remaining squads left. After winning nine straight games, the Enemies have dropped their last two games. Granted, they were both against playoff teams but they were both uncharacteristic losses for this group. They shot an underwhelming 29 percent from the field in Week 7 and just 27 percent last week in San Antonio. Very unlike this team that’s been the best scoring offense all summer. Additionally, Jordan Crawford has been less aggressive as a scorer this season putting up just 13.6 PPG in comparison to the 19.3 PPG he averaged last year. However, this is a team full of guys that can create their own shot and can get hot at any moment. After all, they won nine games in a row for a reason and still shot an astounding 45 percent from the floor in Season 7. Makes you wonder if they saved their best for the postseason having already clinched a playoff spot two weeks ago. Swaggy P’s squad is also coming off their worst loss since he took over as a coach so look for this team to come out looking to redeem themselves against the squad that beat them a week ago.
- Tri-State (5-3):
Dr. J’s team has a chance to bring home the trophy named after himself after a strong finish to the end of the regular season. They won three of their last four games to clinch the final playoff spot and Kevin Murphy is looking like the potential MVP again. Murphy was second in the league in scoring averaging 20.4 PPG and also knocked down six 4-pointers, which ranked second in the BIG3. Not to mention, Henry Sims and Ray Nixon have gotten better as the season went on and Amir Johnson brings that championship experience winning two titles with Trilogy. The X-factor will be Jason Richardson, who has been hobbled by a knee injury the past few weeks. What made this team so scary to start the year was the duo of Murphy and Richardson but J-Rich has scored just eight points since Week 4 in Newark. This team goes as Murphy goes but what Richardson can provide in a limited capacity could be the difference maker to winning it all or being bounced in the first round. It’s been three years since their last playoff run so look for this team to play hard and make this championship run one to be remembered.