Playoffs Recap and Analysis

It’s set – next weekend, Trilogy will play Power in Atlanta for the 2022 BIG3 Championship. Here’s what went down in the Semifinals:

GAME 1: TRILOGY DEFEATS ALIENS, 50-45

These two teams first met in Week 4. A big reason the Aliens won that contest was because Trilogy had a nightmare shooting game.

Isaiah Briscoe in particular was straight-up in the Twilight Zone. He went 3-13 from the field, 0-4 from three, and 2-9 from the line. As a team, Trilogy shot 1-8 from three-point range and 2-12 from the free throw line.

Sunday’s game was a different story. Trilogy, who attack the paint better than any team in the league, were able to get into the teeth of the Aliens’ defense on a fairly consistent basis. They were also hitting shots from the outside. When Trilogy is making perimeter shots, they’re borderline unfair.

Isaiah Briscoe dominated the first half, scoring 17 points on 6-9 shooting from the field and 3-3 from three-point range. Not only was he converting on his signature power-forays to the hoop, but he was hitting from the outside. When that happens, there’s not much to be done. On the back of Briscoe’s performance, Trilogy went into the half with a 26-17 lead.

With the score at 30-17 Trilogy in the second half, the Aliens finally came alive. Dusan Bulut, who was scoreless in the first half, made a three while getting fouled, a nice turnaround, and a four-pointer. The ball was starting to move. When the dust cleared, the Aliens had actually taken a 33-32 lead.

Just as importantly, they were in the bonus – in FIREBALL3, when you make a free throw while your team is in the bonus, you keep possession, so fortunes can change at the drop of a hat.

Then Earl Clark stepped up in a major way and stopped the Aliens from taking control of the game. He hit three straight pull-ups and a free throw to get it to 42-39 Trilogy, and they didn’t relinquish the lead from there. Clark was also everywhere on defense, and finished with two blocks and a steal.

There was no quit in the Aliens, and they fought to the finish.

The Aliens’ final chance may have come when Trilogy had the ball in a sideline out-of-bounds situation with a 48-45 lead and Amir Johnson committed an offensive foul on Tomislav Ivosev. If Ivosev made the free throw, the Aliens would have cut the lead to 48-47 and gotten the ball back. He missed it, and Trilogy got the ball after they tied up Karlis Lasmanis.

On the very next play, the Aliens bunched up in the paint to prevent Briscoe from driving to the rim, Amir Johnson set a flare screen, and Briscoe flipped it to Earl Clark, who drained the wide-open shot with his feet on the three-point line to give Trilogy the 50-45 victory and send them to Atlanta.

FIREWATCH:

Trilogy Coach Stephen Jackson challenged a foul by Earl Clark on Dusan Bulut. Bulut had his pull-up jumper blocked by Clark, NO BASKET.

2022 Records: Trilogy advances to the Finals, Aliens are ELIMINATED.

GAME 2: POWER DEFEATS THE 3 HEADED MONSTERS, 51-49

This was not a pretty game. The two teams combined to go 4-19 from three-point range. They shot 8-17 from the free throw line. They combined for 10 assists. There were 23 offensive rebounds and 24 defensive rebounds, meaning there was a battle after every shot that didn’t go down. The teams combined to commit 27 fouls.

Kevin Murphy hit a pull-up four to give 3HM a 25-24 lead going into halftime. Up until that point, the game had looked more like trench warfare than your typical game of FIREBALL3.

In the second half, Murphy and Glen Rice Jr. went to work. The second half of this game was a duel for the ages. There were floaters, there were layups, there were fadeaways. This was the two most versatile shot-makers in the league straight-up going at each other for a spot in the Finals. Royce White was doing some bullying inside and TJ Cline, as always, was everywhere, but it was the Glen Rice Jr. show for Power.

When I talked to Coach Lieberman before the season, she told me something I couldn’t help but be reminded of as I watched this game unfold:

“I can call timeouts, I can call plays, I can script some plays. But you know, Joe Johnson is Joe Johnson. I mean, why even screw around and draw up a play? His nickname [“Iso-Joe”] is telling you I don’t need a play. So like I’ve said forever, KYP. Know your personnel. I’ve been saying that since I coached in the WNBA. That’s one of the beauties of being a coach. Know your personnel. Know what they can do.”

On Sunday, Iso-Rice and Iso-Murphy were what was working, and both Coach Lieberman and Coach Theus showed some nice KYP chops as they didn’t try to do anything other than give their best scorers a spaced-out floor.

The Rice-Murphy battle went right down to the wire. With the score 49-48 in 3HM’s favor, they had possession. Murphy took the ball right at Glen Rice, went by him with a right-to-left spin, and put up what would have been the game-winning layup, only to have Rice make a miracle recovery to get his fingertips to the ball as it was at its apex.

Shortly thereafter, TJ Cline (who, appropriately for this game, played the second half with stitches in his lip and a streak of dried blood on his chin) got the ball near the basket, drew multiple defenders to him as he went baseline, and let a long-range, across-the-body lob pass fly. After a long journey, the ball landed in the hands of Rice, who was wide-open from beyond the arc. He hit the shot, and Power punched their ticket to the Finals with a 51-49 win.

Gotta love this league.

FIREWATCH:

Power Coach Nancy Lieberman challenged a foul by TJ Cline on Jamario Moon. Moon made a well-contested fadeaway, BASKET GOOD.

3 Headed Monsters Coach Reggie Theus challenged a foul by Rashard Lewis on Royce White. White put some pivots on and made a tough lefty hook, BASKET GOOD.

2022 Records: Power advances to the Finals, 3 Headed Monsters are ELIMINATED.