CBS Sports: Big3 Recaps Week 6 2019 – Triplets Alone at the Top Again Saturday Games – Salt Lake City, UT

3’s Company 51, Killer 3’s 41

– 3’s Company (3-3) won its third straight game to get back to .500 for the first time this season after an 0-3 start.  They’re a half-game back of Trilogy and the Enemies for the last playoff berth.  The Killer 3’s (4-2) lost for the second time in three games, but remain a half-game ahead of those teams in 3rd place in the standings.

– 3’s Company raced out to an 8-0 lead and sprinted to the finish line with a 14-0 run, but was outscored 41-29 in between.  Andre Emmett was the star once again, scoring 24 points and grabbing 14 boards.  He drained a 4-pointer which tied the game at 41 and started his team’s game-ending run, and has had 15+ points in 4 straight games including 3 outings with 20+.  Jason Maxiell had his first game-winner of the season at the free throw line and Dahntay Jones had 10 points to match his season-high.

– The Killer 3’s never looked to be in complete control, but they have to feel like they let one slip away having failed to score a point after going up 41-37.  Donte Greene led the team with 14 points, his 4th time in double-figures.  C.J. Watson had 13, his second time reaching double-figures.  Stephen Jackson scored 10, his 3rd straight week posting a season-low.  The Killer 3’s are 0-2 against teams which currently have a better than .500 record.

Triplets 51, Ball Hogs 34

– Lisa Leslie’s Triplets (5-1) bounced back nicely from their first loss of the season, coasting to a win over the Ball Hogs.  The Triplets moved back into sole possession of first place a half-game ahead of the idle Power.  The Ball Hogs (0-6) continue to look for their first regular season win in over a year and have won only one half this season (1st Half in Week 2).

– Former Utah Jazz star Joe Johnson thrilled the SLC faithful with 21 points and had 4 steals to match the league-wide season-high (Cuttino Mobley had 4 against Tri-State in Week 2).  Iso Joe spent the final stretch of the game resting on the bench with his team completely in control or he might have scored 30, but the 20-point outing was still his first in his last 3 weeks.  Al Jefferson, also a former Jazz star, was a crowd favorite as well and had 12 points.  Jamario Moon didn’t start, but played most of the 2nd Half and had 2 points and 2 rebounds in his first game with the Triplets following a mid-week trade.  Alan Anderson’s 9 points were his team’s final 9 in the game, coming on back-to-back-to-back 3’s.

– The Ball Hogs were once again short-handed with Josh Childress injured.  Will McDonald had 14 points and 8 boards.  DeShawn Stevenson had 12 points and 6 rebounds, though most of his scoring came on 3-pointers in the final minutes with the game long since decided.  Brian Scalabrine was next with 3 points (same as Qyntel Woods) – White Mamba gave Brandon Tierney one of the quotes of the season when asked about his Week 5 effort, saying “I did things to help my team win, even though we lost.”

Bivouac 50, Aliens 47

– The most dramatic game of the short weekend was the nightcap, which saw Bivouac (3-3) hold off the Aliens (2-4) in a game which left the victorious squad half-game out of the last playoff spot and the losers ahead of only the Ball Hogs in the standings.  The Aliens led 13-7 at the first break, but Bivouac was in control for essentially the rest of the game until it had point-game at 48-41.  A last-ditch Aliens rally cut the deficit to 1 at 48-47, but Josh Smith ended it with a follow after an Anthony Morrow airball.

– Josh Smith’s inconsistent season continued, though on this night the good outweighed the bad – he started 0-7 from the field, but made 7 of 10 the rest of the way and finished with 18 points (2nd-most this season), 15 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.  Anthony Morrow led the way with 19 points in place of Will Bynum, who missed a second straight game with a rib injury. 

– After seeming to catch lightning in a bottle last week with the Andre Owens/Shannon Brown/Brandon Rush lineup, the Aliens didn’t feature that trio until they were up against the wall in the game’s final sequence this week.  Some of it was Greg Oden having one of his more effective nights – he had 10 points and 9 rebounds – but it was surprising given how effective that group was against the Ball Hogs.  Brandon Rush had 23 points, 8 more than his previous season-high, and he came out of the gates with a 4-pointer on the first possession of the game – his second straight week making a quadruple.