The BIG3, Ice Cube’s professional 3on3 basketball league, has brought a lot of big basketball names out of retirement and back on to the hardwood. But none have performed better through the first two weeks of the BIG3’s third season than seven-time NBA All-Star Joe Johnson.
The Triplets, Joe Johnson’s BIG3 team, have started off fast winning the first two games of the season and sitting atop the BIG3 standings with the highest point-differential in the league, tied with the Killer 3’s, at 20.
In Week 1, the Triplets fell behind early facing a 26-20 halftime deficit against the Aliens. However, Iso Joe would came alive in the second half turning the game around from a losing effort to a smooth Triplets’ victory as they won the second half 30-14. And that was thanks to Johnson, who finished the game with 27 points, 16 rebounds and five assists, the game-winning floater and BIG3 Week 1 Player of the Week honors.
The aforementioned stats might sound like an impressive NBA afternoon, but the BIG3 plays its games to only 50. Most NBA games finish in the hundreds. And Johnson does not have the ability to push it in transition to score easier buckets since the BIG3 plays a halfcourt game. As such, that stat line is even more ludicrous. If you’re not convinced, check Johnson’s Week 1 highlights.
Against Trilogy in Week 2, Johnson and company continued to take the league by storm. Improving on last week’s performance, the Triplets got out to a fast start leading Trilogy by seven points at the break. Like all elite teams, the killer instinct was there. The Triplets built on their second half advantage and put away Trilogy 51-41. Johnson made it easy to identify who the best player on the hardwood was. He finished with one-more 20-point outing while tallying eight rebounds and five assists. Johnson also added his first four-pointer of his BIG3 career in addition to another game winner.
While the week is not over yet, Johnson looks to be the leader in the clubhouse for earning his second player of the week honors in as many weeks and is certainly making the Triplets an unstoppable force in the BIG3. So far, Johnson’s name should be at the top of any BIG3 MVP discussion.
