Los Angeles Riot vs Chicago Triplets
At the halfway point in the season, it’s safe to say that this is the most competitive season to date in league history. And while it’s made for some great basketball, it’s still hard to find clarity of who’s a contender and who’s a pretender.
The Riot sit in the middle of the pack despite entering the season with high expectations. On the flip side, the Triplets come in tied for first after being slept on a bit before the summer started.
If Chicago doesn’t collapse late in their season opener they’d be undefeated. Montrezl Harrell has looked unstoppable in his first season but the guard play of Nasir Core and Chris Allen has really made this one of the most dangerous trios in the league.
Add in the fact that they’ve barely had to utilize 2x All-Star Jason Richardson alongside being one of the top defense teams and it’s really been hard to find a recipe of success to slow them down.
For LA, it’s been a rollercoaster of a start to Season 8 of the BIG3. They followed up a loss to start the year with back-to-back close wins before struggling last week on the road in Boston.
Jordan Crawford has put together another All-Star caliber season and Dwight Howard seems to have figured out the style of play in the league. But outside of those two, the production has been minimal.
Elijah Stewart hasn’t played up to the standard we’re used to seeing him at and just went scoreless last week for the first time in his career. Wesley Johnson has made a ton of clutch shots for them but hasn’t been relied upon as much throughout the first four weeks.
In hopes of adding a spark to the team, the Riot acquired DMV guard Mike Taylor in exchange for forward Mike Scott earlier this week. Taylor is averaging 8.7 PPG and scored a season-high 20 points during Week 3 in Miami.
The question will be can the guards for the Riot contain the guards for the Triplets. If they can, Chicago will need a full takeover from Harrell who’s got a tough matchup in his own right. Also it’ll be important to keep an eye out for the health of Crawford, who was grabbing his hamstring late in the game last week.
Either way, we’ll certainly have some clarity on who’s a contender after this one.
Dallas Power vs Miami 305
Can anyone slow down the 305 right now?
Miami has won two straight games since their loss against Detroit and seem to have all the momentum on their side.
After blowing out Boston at home a couple weeks ago, Week 5 Player of the Week Michael Beasley and company had a miraculous comeback against the DMV this past week to get their third victory of the summer.
At this point, it doesn’t seem to matter if they are up big or down 10 with the other team at game point, they’ll find a way to win. Beasley is once again putting together another MVP-like campaign and Lance Stephenson has been the perfect compliment alongside him each week.
Meanwhile, Power fell back to .500 despite a valiant effort that saw them play without both their bigs and just three players.
Glen Rice Jr. has put together his own MVP season sitting second behind Beasley as the scoring leader and second in assists.
Unfortunately with Greg Monroe out last week due to Summer League responsibilities and Paul Millsap injured, they suffered a critical loss that could come back to bite them down the stretch.
Nevertheless, Dallas will have their work cut out for them. Slowing down Beasley has been nearly impossible since he joined the league but if they can contain him, slow down Stephenson, and Rice Jr. plays up to his 2025 standard they should have a good shot.
The bigger variable is the availability of their bigs. Monroe could be out another week with Summer League still going on and Millsap tweaked his groin a little over a week ago so who knows how he’ll feel given it’ll just be a couple weeks since he injured it. Even then, you still have to deal with Reggie Evans and Sean Williams.
It’s an uphill battle either way for Power but it’s a win they desperately need. That being said, they’ve been one of the most well-rounded teams when they have their full roster.
DMV Trilogy vs Detroit Amps
After last week, you probably thought things couldn’t get any better for Detroit.
Before last week everything seemed to be on the down swing. Joe Johnson’s injury timeline had extended, they suffered a 20-point loss the week prior, and there was a lot of uncertainty about how their season would shape out without Iso Joe.
But Cameron “Beno” Smith lowered all the questions. Smith dropped 25 points in his BIG3 debut and gave new life to a Detroit team struggling to find offense. On top of that, Shakur Juiston put up career numbers in their latest win and they sit atop the standings tied for first at the halfway point.
Now the Amps go back home to play in front of their home fans for the first time.
DMV on the other hand comes into Week 6 in desperation mode and needing a little bit of help. For the second straight year, Trilogy finds themselves in an 0-4 hole after suffering an improbable comeback from Miami.
As the only winless team in the league and six of the other eight teams with at least two wins, every game is a must win. In addition, they’ll need some help from the teams at the top to give themselves a chance if they can win out.
Trilogy’s biggest issue has been closing out games and finding the right lineups. When they had smaller guards like Franklin Session and Mike Taylor, teams went bigger to exploit the mismatch. When they have Isaiah Austin in the game, teams go smaller to take advantage of that mismatch.
They brought in reinforcements this week with the addition of certain forward Mike Scott, who was acquired in trade this week with the LA Riot for Taylor. Scott has played minimally during his first season in the BIG3 but has a huge opportunity to make some noise in a bigger role with Trilogy. That also means Session will play a larger role and be relied upon more as the only guard on the team.
Against another versatile, lengthy team like Detroit, finding the right lineup may be hard to do once again with the Amps having so many lineup options to go to. And who knows that could even include dealing with the return of Johnson who’s week-to-week, according to BIG3 reporter Chris Haynes.
It probably doesn’t help that head coach Stephen Jackson will most likely be out the rest of the year after having back surgery. That being said, we saw this team reel off four straight last year. But at this point they might just be playing the spoiler role the next four weeks of the season.
Houston Rig Hands vs Boston Ball Hogs
Speaking of teams playing spoiler, Houston might be on the verge of being in the same hole if they don’t win this week.
After starting the season with a win, the Rig Hands have dropped three straight. Corey Brewer has put together another strong season but outside of him, the play has been extremely inconsistent in Calvin Murphy’s first year as head coach.
With Brewer out last week (Summer League), Garlon Green and Brandon Moss had their best games of the year but they scored a third and a half of their points in one game for the entire season, respectively. On the defensive side, teams have shot 45 percent against them this summer.
The Ball Hogs are on the complete opposite side of the spectrum. Boston is on the uptick coming off a strong win over LA last week and Jonathon Simmons looks like an underrated MVP candidate after scoring 27 points – his fourth straight game with at least 18 points while shooting 59 percent on the year.
A team that hadn’t even practiced before the first game now looks like a squad finding chemistry, getting the right lineups together, and more on a string defensively. In fact, they just held the Riot to their lowest scoring point total of the season.
Gary Payton seems to have his team on track to get the Ball Hogs to their first playoffs ever but against the Rig Hands, they’ll need more from their depth. Simmons could very well put up another efficient, high scoring game but that’s asking a lot week over week when they have plenty of guys who are capable of putting the ball in the basket.
Chris Johnson is averaging under 11 points and Kevin Murphy is averaging under seven in 2024. If they can come through, this makes Boston that much scarier of a squad the rest of the way.
For Houston, the return of Brewer isn’t guaranteed this week if the New Orleans Pelicans make it to the finals so they need guys like Green and Moss to step up.
On top of that, they need to emphasize the defensive end and be more active on the glass. They’ve been outrebounded in two of the three games during their losing streak and while not the same team, most of these guys were on the Bivouac squad last year that capitalized on extra possessions from steals or offensive rebounds.
Will Ball Hogs prove to be a real contender or can Houston get back in the mix? That’ll be the question answered by the end of Week 6 in Detroit.
