Week 1 Sunday: Results and Recap

GAME 1: ALIENS DEFEAT ENEMIES

One game into the season, Rick Mahorn’s Aliens experiment is looking like a success. Tomislav Ivosev missed week one (he is expected to play next week), but the Aliens’ other two FIBA 3×3 veterans were still able to dominate the game in his absence. The Aliens were consistently flowing in and out of actions on offense. New Captain Dusan Bulut (22 points, 7 assists) combined some nice playmaking with dead-eye shooting. He made four three-pointers and a shot from the four-point circle, and finished the game by draining a three.

Karlis Lasmanis, Bulut’s fellow FIBA vet, was able to score 18 points of his own on a combination of spot-up 3s and drives to the basket, and the constant motion of him and Bulut seemed to simply overwhelm the Enemies, who also had to deal with a scoreless performance from team Captain Nick Young.

2022 Record: Aliens 1-0, Enemies 0-1

GAME 2: KILLER 3s DEFEAT BALL HOGS

Ball Hogs Captain and Golden State Warriors Player Development Coach Leandro Barbosa wasn’t available for Sunday’s game after winning the NBA Championship with the Warriors on Thursday, and the Ball Hogs couldn’t make up for the absence of one of the BIG3’s best players. To make matters even worse for the Ball Hogs, the usually-automatic Jodie Meeks’ shot was off, and he finished the day with only one made three and a number of missed wide-open opportunities.

For their part, Charles Oakley’s squad got the win behind a balanced performance. Captain Franklin “Frank Nitty” Session hit the game-winning free throw and set the table with a game-high seven assists, Dominique Johnson and Donte Greene kept the defense spread out with a combined 31 points and seven made threes, and Josh Powell took care of business inside with 15 points and seven rebounds.

2022 Record: Killer 3s 1-0, Ball Hogs 0-1

GAME 3: POWER DEFEAT TRI STATE

Tri State’s Captain was also out on Sunday, as Jason Richardson is currently in Health and Safety Protocols. They also didn’t have any answers for the pair of players Power acquired in the 2022 BIG3 Draft.

#1 Overall pick Glen Rice Jr. led all scorers with 23 points and was able to draw premier shot-blocker Larry Sanders out of the paint. TJ Cline doubtlessly made his mother (Power Coach Nancy Lieberman) proud in his debut by showing an excellent feel for FIREBALL3 right off the bat, and finished with 16 points, three rebounds, two assists, and the game-winning three. Royce White, as always, used his prodigious court vision to play the role of facilitator, and finished with a game-high four assists. This was a relatively easy afternoon of work for the new-look Power squad, who could be back in championship contention this season.

2022 Record: Power 1-0, Tri State 0-1