Tri-State Looks to Stay Hot As BIG3 Comes to Chicago

Week 1 of the 2018 BIG3 season opened with a nail-biter that went down to the wire and finished with an upset of the undefeated defending champs. There were outstanding performances from returning BIG3 players as well as some of the big-name newcomers. Week 2 has the league returning to Chicago, site of Week 5 last season. This season, the Chicago games will be played at the United Center. The first game can be seen live on Facebook Watch at 7 p.m. ET. The other three games will air live on FOX beginning at 8 p.m. ET. Here’s a preview:

GHOST BALLERS (0-1) vs. KILLER 3s (0-1) – Live on Facebook Watch
These teams met in Chicago last year in a game that featured several lead changes, with the Ghost Ballers coming away with a 50-46 victory. Killer 3s co-captain Stephen Jackson had a game-high 22 points in that game, while Ghost Ballers captain Mike Bibby was impressive with 15 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds. … Ghost Ballers co-captain Ricky Davis is the current BIG3 scoring leader after posting 21 last week in a close loss to the 3-Headed Monsters. … Carlos Boozer scored 15 for the Ghost Ballers in his BIG3 debut. New Killer 3s co-captain Metta World Peace had 12 points and 8 rebounds in his first BIG3 action.

BALL HOGS (0-1) vs. TRI-STATE (1-0) – Live on FOX
The Ball Hogs are led by new co-captain DeShawn Stevenson, who scored 17 points last week in a loss to Power. After leading the BIG3 in 3-pointers last season, he opened the 2018 campaign with another three 3’s (tied for the best in Week 1). … Tri-State made the biggest splash in Week 1 with their upset of defending champ Trilogy. Nate Robinson was the big story with 10 points and a motor that never stopped, but another big surprise was David Hawkins, who played sparingly last season but led Tri-State last week with 19 points. Captain Jermaine O’Neal was the third member of Tri-State in double digits last week (12 points).

POWER (1-0) vs. 3’S COMPANY (1-0) – Live on FOX
This is the only battle of unbeatens this week and also a meeting between the league’s newest coaches – Nancy Lieberman for Power and 3’s Company’s Michael Cooper. Power’s Cuttino Mobley, who scored 12 points last week, scored 21 when he played in Chicago last season. Power captain Corey Maggette scored 17 last week, tied for third best in the league. … Playing in Chicago will be a homecoming for both Maggette and Power teammate Quentin Richardson, who had 7 points and 8 rebounds for Power in his BIG3 debut last week. Richardson, who played college ball at nearby DePaul, said he always gets fired up to play at the United Center. Jason Maxiell of 3’s Company was also born in Chicago, though he grew up in Texas. Maxiell also had an impressive BIG3 debut, with 7 points and 9 boards in a win over the Killer 3s.

TRILOGY (0-1) vs. 3-HEADED MONSTERS (1-0) – Live on FOX
A rematch of the 2017 BIG3 Championship Game, when Trilogy capped its undefeated season with a hard-fought 51-46 win. Rashad McCants, who was the MVP of that game, picked up where he left off by scoring 16 in last week’s loss to Tri-State. … The 3-Headed Monsters had three players score in double figures in last week’s win (Reggie Evans with 17, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf with 11, rookie Qyntel Woods with 10). Surprisingly that didn’t include last year’s scoring champion, Rashard Lewis (who had 8). Evans added 14 rebounds last week. He was the only player with a double-double in Week 1 – fitting, since he led the league in double-doubles a year ago. For his efforts, Evans was named BIG3 Player of the Week.

WEEK 1 LEADERS

 
Points:

Rebounds:

Six players tied with 5

Assists:

Nine players tied with 2

Total 3-Pointers:

11 players tied with 1

Steals:

 13 players tied with 1

Blocks: