The final weekend of 3-on-3 summer basketball has arrived, with the Big 3 championship to be decided on Sunday from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The battle for league supremacy will feature the 7-1 Triplets and the 5-3 Killer 3s, while the battle for 3rd place has Power - losers of three straight - versus the 3 Headed Monsters, who had won two straight games prior to last week's defeat to the Triplets.
3rd Place Game: Power (5-3) vs 3 Headed Monsters (4-4) - 3PM CBS
In the 3rd place game, the struggling Power look to find their groove once again as they go up against a 3 Headed Monsters team that had momentum heading into last week's playoff defeat. This game is a rematch of a Week 9 match up in Dallas that saw the Monsters emerge victorious 52-46.
Power, the defending champions, have been decimated by injuries this year (Chris Andersen torn ACL, Cuttino Mobley torn calf), and consequently have struggled to find their form. They have one of the league's top players in Corey Maggette, but beyond that have failed to get consistent play out of the rest of the roster. Carlos Boozer and Glen Davis will be big on the interior as they attempt to match the physical style of Reggie Evans.
The 3 Headed Monsters lost by 11 last week to the Triplets, with Rashard Lewis (6 points, 8 rebounds), and Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf (0 points) not being big factors in the game. They will need both of those players to be better, particularly Lewis, who needs to lead them in scoring for them to win. Abdul-Rauf and Mario Chalmers give them an edge at the lead guard spot, and they will need to be on their games as well. Chalmers, who had 19 points in the Week 9 match up, is another three-point threat along with Abdul-Rauf who could spell trouble for Power. The Monsters would also benefit from a similar offensive performance by Evans (12 points last week), however he will need to be better on the boards, as he had just 4 rebounds. He had 12 points and 7 rebounds in the previous game between the teams.
Maggette is one of the top players in the league, but it will need to be a collective effort if Power is to win the 3rd place game. The Monsters have too much balance offensively and too much inside for Power not to get strong outings from the likes of Davis and Boozer. Power are the defending champions though and are a prideful group that will not go down easy.
Championship Game: Triplets (7-1) vs Killer 3s (5-3) - 4PM CBS
The Triplets - who boast coach of the year Lisa Leslie and Most Valuable Player Joe Johnson - have rolled for most of the season, their only loss coming to Power by 3 points. The Killer 3s on the other hand, started off the year with a bang 3-0, and dropped 3 of their next 4 games before winning their last two games - in Week 9 over the Enemies and last week over Power - by a combined 22 points (they defeated the Enemies 50-36 and Power 50-42).
The 3s have better guard play than the Triplets do and might even have a more complete team - Stephen Jackson, CJ Watson, and Donte Green all averaged double figures in scoring throughout the season, while the next leading scorer for the Triplets after Johnson's 21.9 is Al Jefferson at 9.4. The question, however, is can the 3s contain Johnson, who has been on a tear all season and who is coming off of a 26 point effort last week. They will counter him with Jackson, who is a very capable scorer, and they also have the 6'11 Greene whose length could give Johnson issues if 3s coach Charles Oakley decides to play him on Johnson at some point in the game. The 3s will need big efforts from Greene, Josh Powell, and Eddy Curry on the inside to match up with Al Jefferson, who is very good on the low block.
The Triplets, on the defensive end, will need to contend with the shooting of CJ Watson and the quickness of Franklin Session, both of them point guards who can exploit the lack of perimeter quickness from Triplets. The Triplets do have perimeter in the form of the 6'4 Sergerio Gipson and the 6'6 Alan Anderson, the latter of which is a very good three-point shooter. They also have Jamario Moon on the wing who will be used at times to defend Stephen Jackson.
The key in this game, like all the games the Triplets play in, is whether Johnson can be slowed or not. He has played this season like he is on a mission to win, and the 3s will need to bring their A game if they are to emerge as champions. The Triplets have the best player on the floor, but the 3s have a well-rounded team that can hurt you in a variety of ways. It will make for a very exciting championship game.
Game Picks: 3 Headed Monsters, Killer 3s
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