TUNE IN ON SATURDAY, JULY 1ST ON CBS AT 1:00 EST FOR TRILOGY VS. TRIPLETS, WHICH WILL BE FOLLOWED BY TRI STATE VS. POWER AT 2:00.
THE FINAL 3 GAMES OF THE WEEK WILL BE STREAMED ON BIG3.COM, STARTING WITH ENEMIES VS. BALL HOGS AT 3:00. KILLER 3’S VS. 3’S COMPANY WILL BEGIN AT 3:50, ALIENS VS. GHOST BALLERS WILL BEGIN AT 4:40, AND BIVOUAC VS. 3 HEADED MONSTERS WILL BEGIN AT 5:30.
Welcome to Week 2 of the Summer of Fire. All six BIG3 games this week will take place on Saturday, so make sure to mark your calendars. As always, we’ve got a great slate of games:
GAME 1 (1:00 EDT on CBS): TRILOGY (1-0) VS. TRIPLETS (0-1)
The first game of the day will see Trilogy try to build on their Week 1 win against Joe Johnson and the Triplets. Johnson and the Triplets had a rough time getting their shots to fall in their Week 1 loss against Bivouac. They’re not going to get any help turning things around from Trilogy. The defending champs are the best defensive team in the BIG3, and they’re led by 2022 BIG3 Defensive Player of the Year Earl Clark, who will be matched up with Johnson.
The matchup between Clark and Johnson should be as good of an individual matchup as we’ll get all season – if Clark can manage to keep Iso-Joe in check, Trilogy will have a good shot at starting the year 2-0, but keeping Johnson contained is much easier said than done.
GAME 2 (2:00 on CBS): TRI STATE (1-0) VS. POWER (1-0)
This should be a heck of a game. Tri State and Power execute as well as any two teams in their league, and are an interesting matchup for each other.
Tri State are loaded with lights-out three-point shooters, and put pressure on teams with clean sets that often result in open looks from deep. Power, on the other hand, feature a lot of size, love to attack the rim, and play a more free-flowing game.
Tri State had most of its success in Week 1 when it played small lineups with Jason Richardson in the middle. Will they be able to do the same against Power’s cadre of skilled big men, or will they have to rely more on new addition DeShawn Stephens, who looked like one of the league’s best big men in 2022?
GAME 3 (3:00 on BIG3.COM): ENEMIES (0-1) VS. BALL HOGS (1-0)
This game will be all about whether or not the Ball Hogs can keep their Week 1 form going. They played an absolutely immaculate game to start the season. The combination of pinpoint shooting, Leandro Barbosa’s ability to make plays off the dribble, and Jodie Meeks’ constant motion was simply too much for Aliens to handle. It will be thrilling to see if they can do that against Enemies.
For their part, Enemies are going to need a way to get easier looks than they did in Week 1. They might have success working the ball inside – the Ball Hogs were at their best in Week 1, when they played without a true big man, and the 7’1 Isaiah Austin is capable of being a real problem in the paint.
GAME 4 (3:50 on BIG3.COM): KILLER 3’s (0-1) VS. 3’s COMPANY (0-1)
Neither of these teams wants to start the season 0-2, so expect them to get after it on Saturday. Killer 3’s brought a ton of energy against Tri State, and their performance would have been good enough to get the win against a lot of teams – they just didn’t get some key shots to fall down the stretch.
3’s Company, on the other hand, blew a second half lead to Ghost Ballers, and their lack of ball movement throughout the contest was concerning. If they come out content to watch Michael Beasley play isolation ball on repeat, the pressure “Frank Nitty” and Co. are sure to put on might overwhelm them. In any case, the matchup in the backcourt between Frank Nitty and 3’S Company Captain Mario Chalmers should be one of the week’s best.
GAME 5 (4:40 on BIG3.COM): ALIENS (0-1) VS. GHOST BALLERS (1-0)
Aliens are looking for a bounce-back game after getting run off the floor by the Ball Hogs in Week 1. They often looked too dependent on perimeter shot-making in that contest – we’ll see if they can put more pressure at the rim against the Ghost Ballers, although the sheer size of George Gervin’s team could make that difficult.
The Ghost Ballers were able to get a win in Week 1, but their offense was a point of concern. In contrast to Aliens, the Ghost Ballers’ offensive issues stemmed from their complete inability to make an outside shot; when 3’s Company packed the paint against them, they had no answer until Jonathon Simmons finally took the lid off the rim with some key outside shots. Whichever team is able to employ a balanced attack in this game should be the favorite to take the win.
GAME 6 (5:30 on BIG3.COM): BIVOUAC (1-0) VS. 3 HEADED MONSTERS
An interesting game to end Week 2. Bivouac were able to tough out a victory over Triplets in Week 1, but their offense lacked some flow, especially since Gerald Green didn’t quite have his beautiful jump shot dialed in the way he normally does. The team had its best offensive
stretches when they went “small” and put in swingman Garlon Green in for the 7-foot Ryan Hollins.
If they try the same gambit against 3HM, they might run into some issues, because BIG3 legend Reggie Evans is back after missing all of 2022 and looking to feast inside. If Bivouac does play Ryan Hollins for extended minutes against Evans, get ready for some good old-fashioned trench warfare between the two NBA veteran bigs.
On 3HM’s side of the ball, keep an eye on the offensive balance – in Week 1, Evans and 2022 BIG3 MVP Kevin Murphy still appeared to be figuring out how to play off of each other a bit. When it really starts clicking between those two, the rest of the league could be in big trouble.
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