CBS SPORTS: Big3 Week 4 Recaps – Highlight-Packed Weekend Ends with Triplets As Last Unbeaten

Saturday Games – Providence, RI

Power 50, Ghost Ballers 36

– 2018 MVP Corey Maggette didn’t wait to make an impact in his season debut, scoring 11 points and grabbing 6 boards in the 1st Half, but the Ghost Ballers took a 25-20 lead into the break thanks to a 4-pointer from Alex Scales.  It was all Power all the time from then on, as the reigning champs outscored the Ballers 30-11 in the 2nd Half and coasted to a 14-point win on Big Baby’s second game winner of the season.  Power improved to 12-0 since the start of last season in games not played in Week 3 (including playoffs).

– Maggette looked 100% in his season debut, finishing with 23 points and 14 boards, and Julian Wright had 17 points for the second time in as many games with the team.  But it was all about the Big Baby bounce back after his ejection and outburst last week – he scored his team’s final 4 points, and also had a handful of rebounds and assists in front of a New England crowd which remembered him fondly as an NBA Champion Celtic.

– The Ballers were blown out for the second straight game after a 2-0 start, and their 11 points in the 2nd Half were the fewest by a Big3 team in any half this season.  It wasn’t all bad – Mike Bibby was more involved than he was in the 1st 3 games, and had 4 points including a bucket off a nifty crossover to tie it at 29.  But the Jamario Moon/Ricky Davis/Mike Taylor combo struggled for a second straight week and had particular trouble handling Julian Wright and Big Baby on the inside in the 2nd Half – something which doesn’t bode well for next week’s matchup with Greg Oden and the Aliens.

Enemies 50, Aliens 39

– A game which featured Brendan Haywood and Gilbert Arenas telling the origin story of “hibachi” and Michael Rapaport describing Craig Smith “cooking” nearly boiled over in the final minutes when Royce White and Ryan Hollins trash talk – which was plentiful – went a bit too far and earned both players a technical before cooler heads prevailed and the beef got buried. Perry Jones had a breakout game with 13 points for the Enemies and hit a nice runner for the game winner.

– Craig Smith struggled a bit with his shot in the first half, but was indeed cooking in the 2nd on his way to 19 points (a number he’s hit in all 4 games), including back-to-back 3-pointers early in the 2nd half which blew open a tight game.  Perry Jones brought an inside presence the Enemies haven’t shown much of so far on the offensive end, and his 13 points were a season-high after consecutive scoreless games.  The Enemies won their third straight.

– The Aliens got a second straight solid game from Greg Oden, who had 11 points and 5 boards, and Ryan Hollins was also solid inside when Oden was on the bench with 8 points and 4 boards – he had a thunderous dunk to get his team within 37-29.  But they just couldn’t seem to find a unit which could consistently get buckets – all 6 players had at least 3 points, but the team combined for a total of 4 assists and no one had more than 1.  Brandon Rush had a season low 7 points, but did make an impact in other in others ways with 6 boards, 3 steals and 3 blocks.

3’s Company 50, Ball Hogs 38

– 3’s Company took a 5-point lead into the Half, pushed it to 9 early in the 2nd Half, and never really had to sweat the rest of the way as they rolled to their first win of the season by a 50-38 margin.  The Ball Hogs continue to look for their first regular season win in over a year.  Dahntay Jones ended it with a tough runner for his 8th point after being on the sidelines for the first 3 games.  It was his first game winner since week 4 last year, also against the Ball Hogs.

– Andre Emmett had 17 for 3’s Company, his second straight week scoring more than he did in the first two games combined (21 last week, 16 in 1st 2 weeks).  Jason Maxiell had a season-high 12 and is getting better by the week – he had 2, 4 and 10 in succession in the first 3 games.

– Will McDonald came up short of a fourth straight double-double with just 4 rebounds, but he had half of the Hogs’ 20 points in the 1st half and finished with 18 after last week’s season-low 10.  The rest of the team combined for 20, including a season-low 5 from DeShawn Stevenson.

Sunday Games – Brooklyn, NY

Triplets 50, Tri-State 37

– Lisa Leslie and Iso Joe continue to work their magic and the Triplets continue to beat everyone in front of them.  No matter who the Coach of the Year front runner turns to, she gets the best out of them – this week it was Al Jefferson with a double-double and Jannero Pargo with 3 straight 3’s late in the 1st Half to blow the game open.  And the MVP front runner just did what he does every week – dominate the 2nd Half and end the game, this time with a 4-pointer. The league’s last unbeaten will face its toughest test yet in Week 5 – a date with the reigning champs Power with Cuttino Mobley hoping to return alongside a rejuvenated Corey Maggette.

– Iso Joe had a second straight quiet 1st Half, this time with 3 points before the break, but he had 14 in the 2nd Half and put an exclamation point on his MVP reel with his silky smooth game-winning quadruple.  He’s had game winners in 3 of the 1st 4 weeks – no one had more than 3 game winners all of last season, including playoffs (Alan Anderson, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and Cuttino Mobley each had 3). Jefferson was also a force in the 2nd Half with several late buckets that set up Iso Joe’s heroics, and his 14 points matched a season high while his 10 boards were twice his previous best.

– Amar’e Stoudemire came out looking like he was still working out for NBA teams like he did Monday in Vegas, scoring his team’s first 9 points, but he cooled off to finish with 13.  Jason Richardson stole the show for Tri-State in the loss – he finished with a season-high 20 points, and capped off his team’s best stretch of the 2nd Half with a dunk that tied it at 30 (the Triplets answered with a 12-2 run to blow it open).

Bivouac 50, 3 Headed Monsters 43

– The Monsters channeled Bronx legend Yogi Berra on their afternoon in Brooklyn – it was deja vu all over again as they followed the same pattern as last week.  Come out cold, fall behind big early in the 2nd Half, then mount a furious late comeback and come up just short.  This week it was a 40-25 hole which they whittled down to 4, and they even had a chance for a 4-pointer to tie it before Bivouac’s Will Bynum hit a game-winning 3-point free throw to get the last laugh in a game-long trash talking battle with Monsters coach Gary Payton.

– It was another strange game for the enigmatic Bivouac, but ultimately their first win since Week 1.  They took a 10-point lead into the break despite Will Bynum and Josh Smith both going to the bench early with their 3rd fouls, Smith doing so scoreless.  Bynum finished with a team-high 13 points and has the game-winner in both of Bivouac’s wins.  C.J. Leslie had a season-high 12 points after having 11 last week.

– The Monsters came into the game talking about needing a faster start to avoid playing from behind like last week, but it just didn’t happen on the floor and led to their first consecutive losses in team history.  They had a lot of trouble at the free throw line early in the game, but did start knocking them down and made good use of the bonus to fuel their 2nd Half comeback, stringing together points thanks to made free throws which gave them the ball back.  Reggie Evans had 21 points and 13 boards, but was at the center of the free throw issues.  Mario Chalmers had double-digits for the second straight week with 13, all in the 2nd Half.

Trilogy 50, Killer 3’s 48

– The last game of the weekend was also the most dramatic game of the weekend, with Trilogy getting back to .500 after an 0-2 start and knocking the Killer 3’s from the ranks of the unbeaten with a 2-point win in an absolute slugfest.  David Hawkins hit a 2-point free throw to win it, but the moments leading up to it were tense and chaotic starting with an 8-0 Killer 3’s run to get within 1 after Trilogy controlled the game’s early stages.  Both teams committed key turnovers late in the game and a controversial call gave the Killer 3’s the ball with a chance to win and had Trilogy coach Kenyon Martin disgusted with the officials at 48-all.  In the end KMart’s squad got the last laugh with a second straight win.

– Hawk was an absolute beast down the stretch, scoring his team’s final 13 points after having just 8 prior – first he knocked down 3 straight huge 3’s to answer the 8-0 run, then he made 2 straight 2-point free throws to close it out.  Sam Young came up with 13 big points after having scored 6 the last two weeks and 14 all season.  James White had 10 and has been in double-digits in all 4 games.

– Charles Oakley’s team fell into a tie for 2nd place at 3-1, but they shouldn’t be too upset given how hard fought the loss was.  Stephen Jackson got off to a slow start and finished with 12 after having 22 in his first two games of the season, but he came up with some big buckets down the stretch.  Donte Green had a season-high 18, and Frank Nitty had 10 for the second straight week and got the starting nod after his big 2nd Half last week.