Week 4 Friday: Results and Recap

A lovely Friday of basketball from Frisco – (Frisco, Texas, not San Francisco – as America’s first and only Emperor, Joshua Norton, made it clear, the city by the bay should never be referred to as such.) Let’s take a look at what went down:

GAME 1: BIVOUAC DEFEAT TRIPLETS, 50-46

For the first time since August 25, 2019, Bivouac won a game. It certainly helped them that Triplets Captain and Week 3 Player of the Week Joe Johnson missed the game due to personal reasons, but this still has to feel pretty darn good for the Bivouac faithful.

Bivouac’s defense continues to be concerning. Ryan Hollins, who had been fairly quiet on the offensive end through the first three weeks of the season, had himself a dunk party. He finished with 12 points, all of which came on dunks. Four of those six dunks were of the alley-oop variety, with Jeremy Pargo providing the assist each time.

Pargo finished with 10 assists, and Alonzo Gee did a good job filling in for Iso-Joe as the team’s starting wing, finishing with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

On the Bivouac side of things, Gerald Green continued to drop in jumpers with the ease most people toss used paper towels into the garbage. He finished with 25 points, made three shots from beyond the arc, and dished out a team-high four assists. Center Jeff Ayres took advantage of Ryan Hollins’ tendency to stay in the paint on defense, and managed to drop in three shots from three-point range himself.

The game was ultimately decided by the Triplets’ over-reliance on the four-point shot down the stretch. Jeremy Pargo, the BIG3’s master of the four-pointer, took an extremely ambitious four-pointer with the score tied at 46. If it had gone in, the Triplets would have gotten the win. Instead, it missed the rim and fell into Gerald Green’s lap, and he made the easy put-back to make it 48-46 Bivouac.

After that, Jeremy and Jannero Pargo both missed open four-pointers that would have given the Triplets a win in spectacular fashion, but neither shot managed to find the net. Bivouac finished the game when Corey Brewer backed down Jannero Pargo and hit a turnaround jumper from the free-throw line, ending the game 50-46 and snapping Bivouac’s years-long losing streak.

FIREWATCH: Triplets Coach Lisa Leslie challenged a foul by Jeremy Pargo on Gerald Green. Green hit a pull-up from the right elbow, BASKET GOOD.

2022 Records: Triplets 2-2, Bivouac 1-3

GAME 2: KILLER 3’S DEFEAT GHOST BALLERS, 51-49

Frank Nitty had no interest in letting the Killer 3’s record go to 1-3. He was relentless on both sides of the ball, and finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists. Donte Greene handled the scoring load, finishing with 23 points, and Josh Powell did a great job inside, finishing with 10 points of his own.

On the Ghost Ballers’ side of things, it was essentially the Chris Johnson show, for better and for worse. Johnson continued to show his ludicrous level of talent with some spectacular dunks, sweet mid-range jumpers, and a four-point shot, but missed all seven of the shots he took from three-point range, including two crucial shots down the stretch. Mike Taylor gave his usual full effort on both sides, but was perhaps more content than he should have been to let his teammates get the lion’s share of the shots.

The game ended on one heck of a play, as Frank Nitty dropped a beautiful little bounce pass to Donte Greene, who had gotten past Johnson on a backdoor cut and managed to finish an and-1 shot over him, which meant Ghost Ballers coach George Gervin was unable to use his Bring the Fire challenge. Greene made the resulting free throw to give the Killer 3’s a much-needed 51-49 win.

FIREWATCH: Killer 3’s Coach Charles Oakley challenged a foul by Donte Greene on Chris Johnson. Johnson hit a long pull-up 2 from the left side of the floor, BASKET GOOD.

2022 Records: Killer 3’s 2-2, Ghost Ballers 2-2

GAME 3: POWER DEFEATS 3’S COMPANY, 51-33

This was supposed to be a close game. It was not. 3’s Company’s offense is extremely reliant on Michael Beasley. Unfortunately for them, he was unusually passive and had trouble finding his shot. He finished with just 10 points, which is less than 3’s Company generally hopes to get against their big offseason acquisition.

Power, meanwhile, continued to move the ball beautifully, finishing with 12 assists to 3’s Company’s four. They also actually got some outside shots to fall, with Captain Cuttino Mobley and Glen Rice Jr. combining for four made shots from beyond the arc. Mobley had his best game of the season, TJ Cline continues to be one of the best off-ball players in the league, and Royce White’s blend of physicality and court vision continues to make him one of the most compelling players in the league.

With Power firing on all cylinders and 3’s Company not getting much out of their star player, this was never really a close game, and Glen Rice Jr., who led all scorers with 22 points, finished the game with a floater.

FIREWATCH:

Power Coach Nancy Lieberman challenged a foul by Glen Rice Jr. on Michael Beasley. Beasley missed a fadeaway, NO BASKET.

Coach Lieberman challenged a foul by TJ Cline on Mario Chalmers. Chalmers missed the contested jumper, NO BASKET.

3’s Company Coach Michael Cooper challenged a foul by Mario Chalmers on Cuttino Mobley. Mobley missed the turnaround jumper, NO BASKET.

2022 Records: Power 2-2, 3’s Company 1-3