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Saturday Games – Charlotte, NC
Triplets 51, Trilogy 41
The Triplets shook off an early deficit with a 19-8 run to lead 25-18 at the half and never trailed after the break. The game was within one possession as late as 41-39, but the Triplets went on a 10-2 run to end it with their final 8 points coming from Joe Johnson including his first career 4-pointer and his second straight game-winner. Other than those 2 period-ending runs, Trilogy outscored the Triplets 32-22.
Johnson finished with 20 pts and 5 assists, his second straight 20-point outing to open his Big3 career. Al Jefferson and Trilogy’s Patrick O’Bryant had a spirited battle down low but it was clearly Jefferson who got the best of it, finishing with 14 points to O’Bryant’s 2. Alan Anderson added 9 for the Triplets, and Jannero Pargo had 6 on a couple open early 3’s after Trilogy double-teamed Iso Joe.
Trilogy needs more from Jason Terry – he had 3 pts after having 2 in the opener. James White had 18 after scoring 17 last week, but he’s been the team’s only consistent scoring threat – the rest of Trilogy’s players have just 51 points in the two games combined.
Enemies 50, Ball Hogs 40
Craig Smith had 19 points to lead 3 Enemies in double-figures as they came back from a 12-point 2nd Half hole to earn the first win in franchise history.
Gilbert Arenas scored 13 in his Big3 debut including the game-winning 2-point free throw. No. 1 Big3 draft pick Royce White had 10 in his first real action following last week’s ejection – most of his damage came during a 20-2 which turned the game around.
The teams were tied at 11 before the Ball Hogs ended the 1st Half on a 15-2 run powered by Will McDonald, whose dunk sent them into halftime up 26-13. They carried that momentum out of halftime, culminating in a 34-22 lead with McDonald having 21 of the 34 points. He finished with 27 and 11 boards. The first 11 points of the Enemies’ big run down the stretch came with McDonald on the bench.
The Ball Hogs have lost 7 straight games since getting their only win last season in Week 3 (their game next Saturday will come on the one-year anniversary of that win).
Killer 3’s 50, 3’s Company 32
Charles Oakley’s team trailed 19-17 early, but went into the locker room on a 10-0 run and never looked back. Killer 3’s dominated the 2nd Half 23-13 to notch a 50-32 win – the most decisive of the first two weeks of the Big3 season.
Stephen Jackson had a game-high 22 points in his season debut, including 13 in the 1st Half and a 4-pointer in the 2nd Half – despite telling Michael Rapaport that he’s playing through a knee injury. Last week’s walkoff hero Donte Greene added 9, C.J. Watson had 14 and Franklin “Frank Nitty” Session ended it with a 3-pointer.
3’s Company continues to desperately miss Baron Davis, who was on hand and mic’d up in his former NBA home but hasn’t played this season – they’ve yet to have a player score more than 12 points in their 1at 2 games. Andre Emmett and Drew Gooden each had 10 in this week’s loss after Gooden had 12 last week.
Sunday Games – Philadelphia, PA
Ghost Ballers 51, Bivouac 46
The Ballers had leads of 13-6 and 22-12 early, but found themselves in a fight after an 11-4 Bivouac run got them within 3 at the half. The teams went back-and-forth for most of the 2nd Half, but the Ballers went on a 10-0 run to reach point-game after trailing 42-39, and eventually won 51-46 on Jamario Moon’s putback layup of a Bivouac shot that didn’t touch the rim.
While captain Mike Bibby has yet to score this season, the Ghost Ballers trio of Jamario Moon, Ricky Davis and Mike Taylor has been very impressive through two games – Moon had 21 today after scoring 20 last week, Davis (last year’s Big3 scoring leader) had 20 this week, and Taylor had 10, all in the 2nd Half.
Will Bynum led Bivouac with 17 points – including the team’s only triple and a layup following a hesitation move which elicited ooh’s and aah’s from the Philly crowd and CBSSN broadcast team. But they once again got less than they’d hoped from captain Josh Smith – who had 10 points after going scoreless last week thanks to an early ejection – and saw Anthony Morrow score only 7 this week after having 16 in the opener.
3 Headed Monsters 50, Aliens 44
The Aliens appeared well on their way to the first victory in franchise history before a stunning collapse which saw them outscored 29-10 down the stretch including a 14-0 Monsters run to end the game. Tiny Archibald’s Aliens led 20-8 in the early going, and 34-21 in the 2nd Half, but never scored again after leading 44-36. Rashard Lewis ended it with a 3-pointer, his team’s only make of the game from downtown.
The Monsters were ice cold for most of the game, but came alive down the stretch. Captain Rashard Lewis had 16 of his 18 points in the 2nd Half. Reggie Evans was relatively quiet, but had 10 points and 9 boards, while the recently-engaged Larry Sanders had 8 points and 10 boards.
Aliens head coach Tiny Archibald came in looking for a spark, and his experiments seemed to work early – Brandon Rush had 13 points off the bench to lead his team into the half up 25-17, and 21 of the team’s 1st Half points came from the bench. But whatever good feeling came out of that start was ruined during the team’s collapse down the stretch. Rush had just 2 points after the break (finished w/15) and no one else on the Aliens had more than 8 in the game.
Power 51, Tri-State 43
It was back-and-forth in the early-going as the teams traded buckets out to an 18-all tie, but Power pulled away with a 7-2 stretch to take a 25-20 halftime lead and never looked back. They led by double-digits for most of the 2nd Half (as many as 13) and never let Tri-State get within a 4-pointer of the tie before Cuttino Mobley ended it with a layup, capping off his 14-point 2nd Half.
Mobley followed up his 28-point outing last week with 23 more points this week in front of a hometown crowd despite telling Brandon Tierney he was fighting vertigo at halftime and being helped off the court after his game-winner. Power once again impressed with contributions from up and down the rest of their roster despite being without captain Corey Maggette. “Big Baby” had 10 points, Julian Wright had 8 after being signed this week to replace Quentin Richardson, and Mychel Thompson had 6 points and 11 rebounds.
Amar’e Stoudemire had 18 points to lead Tri-State (including 14 of the team’s 20 in the 1st Half), Nate Robinson scored 12 and Yakhouba Diawara had 9 points and 9 boards, but the team was once again under-manned as it awaits the returns of Jermaine O’Neal and Bonzi Wells. Jason Richardson and Corsley Edwards rounded out the active roster and combined for 4 points – all 5 of Power’s active players had at least 4.
