TUNE IN ON SATURDAY ON CBS OR PARAMOUNT PLUS AT 1:00 EST FOR THE TRILOGY VS. KILLER 3’S GAME. AT 2:00 EST ON CBS AND PARAMOUNT PLUS, THE ALIENS WILL PLAY POWER. AT 3:00 EST ON THE BIG3 YOUTUBE CHANNEL AND DAZN, THE 3 HEADED MONSTERS WILL PLAY TRI STATE TO END THE DAY AND THE WEEKEND.
YOU CAN ALSO WATCH THE 3 HEADED MONSTERS VS. TRI STATE GAME ON THE BIG3 YOUTUBE CHANNEL.
Officially, this is the last week of the 2022 BIG3 “regular season,” but it’s win or go home time already for almost all of these teams. (The 3 Headed Monsters are the only team that has clinched a playoff spot.)
SATURDAY:
GAME 1: TRILOGY VS. KILLER 3’S
Oh, this is going to be a good one. The battle between Isaiah Briscoe vs. Franklin “Frank Nitty” Session should be one for the ages. Both men prefer to cut right into the heart of the defense instead of taking perimeter shots. Both men might be the pound-for-pound strongest players in the league.
The main difference between the two players is how they’re used – Briscoe is part of Trilogy’s all-out paint attack. He’s generally flanked by Amir Johnson, who is as fearsome an offensive paint presence that exists in the league, and Earl Clark, who can stretch the floor a little but prefers to live at the rim.
On the other side of things, Frank Nitty can generally be found kicking the ball out to Dominique Johnson, who has established himself as a freakishly accurate outside shooter, the ever-smooth Donte Greene, or Josh Powell, who’s just as comfortable stepping out and hitting a midrange jumper as he is mixing it up inside.
The prettier this game gets, the more it should favor the Killer 3’s, but I can’t escape the feeling that Stephen Jackson and Charles Oakley’s teams are going to flat-out go at it on Saturday with a playoff spot on the line.
(Trilogy and the Killer 3’s both currently have 5-2 records.)
GAME 2: POWER VS. ALIENS
We’ve got a rematch from Week 6, when Power was able to get a fairly convincing 51-43 win over the Aliens. Power’s signature blend of ball movement and size was something the Aliens had no answer for. Royce White got the better of Deshawn Stephens down low. Perhaps most importantly, Power was able to stifle the Aliens’ movement-heavy, flowing offensive game, and the Aliens wouldn’t have had any offense to speak of if Dusan Bulut wasn’t absolutely on fire against his former team.
The impetus will be on the Aliens to make the necessary adjustments, and they’re absolutely capable of doing so. One thing that would definitely help is if the Aliens could get more out of Co-Captain Karlis Lasmanis. Lasmanis’ cutting and passing is a big part of what makes the Aliens’ offense work, but he’s struggled to find his shot this season – as of right now, he’s shooting just 34.4% from the field and 24.1% from three-point range.
The Aliens’ “advantage” in this game is they know they have to make changes from what they did in Week 6, and have a decent idea of what changes they have to make. It’ll be up to Nancy Lieberman’s team to try and anticipate and/or counter those changes in order to punch Power’s ticket to the playoffs.
(The Aliens, who were given an automatic win in Week 7, have a 5-2 record. Power has a 4-3 record.)
GAME 3: 3 HEADED MONSTERS VS. TRI STATE
Honestly, the biggest factor in this game could be just how seriously 3HM takes the game. They already know they’re going to the playoffs, there’s no such thing as home-court advantage in the BIG3, and trying to play for a specific matchup in the first round of the playoffs seems like more trouble than it’s worth.
As we saw when Leandro Barbosa suffered a season-ending lower leg injury fighting through a screen in Week 5, every basketball player is constantly one play away from catastrophe. With that in mind, it’s entirely possible team Captain Rashard Lewis and presumptive league MVP Kevin Murphy could see limited minutes against Tri State.
(One thing to note: if Murphy is interested in the BIG3 history books, he’s 26 points away from breaking the single-season scoring record, and he’s averaging 26.2 points this season.)
Then again, there is something to be said for coming into the playoffs with momentum, and if 3HM takes this game, they’ll head to Tampa Bay without losing a single game since Week 1. We’ll see what levers Coach Reggie Theus pulls for 3HM in this one.
As for Tri State, it’s as simple as this: they need to start draining outside shots again to have a chance. They looked like the best team in the league when their perimeter-based attack was producing makes, and promptly went on a three-game losing streak when they went cold from the outside.
This game will be a rematch from Week 6. In that game, 3HM easily handled Julius Erving’s team, with the final score being 50-33.
(The 3 Headed Monsters, who were also given an automatic win in Week 7, have a 6-1 record. Tri State has a 3-4 record.)