News: Baron Davis, Lamar Odom, Bonzi Wells, and Jermaine O'Neal will miss the remainder of the 2019 Big 3 season.
Week 4 of the 2019 Big 3 season starts on Saturday, at 12pm from the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island, and concludes Sunday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, also with a 12pm start time.
In Providence, Power, coming off their first defeat of the season last week at the hands of Trilogy, will look to bounce back as they face the Ghost Ballers. The Enemies, who have won two straight after dropping their season opener 50-43 vs Bivouac, looks to extend their winning streak to three games against Greg Oden and the Aliens. The final game in Providence will be between two teams looking for their first win of the year, as the Ball Hogs go head to head with 3s Company.
As mentioned, Power is looking to get back in the win column following a disappointing third week. Glen Davis was ejected early on in the game, and Cuttino Mobley, the league's 4th leading scorer, scored just 6 points. They face a Ghost Ballers team that is also coming off of a loss, a 51-35 defeat to the Enemies. If they are without Carlos Boozer, they will have trouble dealing with Davis, Chris Andersen, and new player Julian Wright, who led Power with 17 points in their week 3 loss.
The Enemies and Aliens will provide for an intriguing match up. The Enemies' Craig Smith has been dominant so far this season, and is 2nd in the league in scoring at 22.7 points per game. Royce White has also played well as of late, as he is coming off an 8 point, 10 rebound, 10 assist performance in week 3. Gilbert Arenas will have a big advantage going up against the Aliens' guards Andre Owens and Shannon Brown, but the key will be the play of Alien big man Greg Oden. He has a big height and size advantage in the middle against Smith and White, who both measure at 6'8.
The final game in Providence has the Ball Hogs and 3s Company vying for their first wins of the season. 3s Company lost 50-44 to Tri-State last week, while the Ball Hogs were handed a 12 point loss at the hands of the Aliens, 51-39. With the announcement that Baron Davis will miss the rest of the season, 3s Company lacks a true point guard and will miss the scoring and play making of Davis. Andre Emmett will figure to have more ball handling responsibility, but he still does not provide the type of play making that Davis would. The scoring onus, at least on the perimeter, will fall more on Emmett and DerMarr Johnson.
The Ball Hogs, with Will McDonald in the middle at 6'11, have a size advantage on the interior going against the smaller Drew Gooden, at least size wise, and the 6'7 Jason Maxiell. On the outside, 3s Company will have a tough time contending with the three point shooting ability of Deshawn Stevenson. If he gets hot from downtown, he can fill it up quickly.
In Brooklyn on Sunday, the opener is a big name match up, with Triplets facing Tri-State. The Triplets boast the league's best and most valuable player to this point of this season in Joe Johnson, who leads the league in scoring. They also have Al Jefferson on the interior, who was an All-NBA third team performer in 2014 with the Charlotte Bobcats. The Triplets also have a big three point threat in Alan Anderson.
Tri-State counters with Amare Stoudemire and Jason Richardson, who will provide big competition to Johnson and Jefferson. Without Jermaine O'Neal and Bonzi Wells for the remainder of the season, Stoudemire needs to continue to be a big factor on the inside, as will Richardson and Nate Robinson from the outside. The key to this game will be if Tri-State will be able to slow Johnson, who is averaging 23.3 points a game this season, as well as 10.3 rebounds (3rd), and 4.7 assists (1st). Stoudemire is 3rd in the league in scoring at 22 per contest.
3 Headed Monsters and Bivouac are the second game on the Sunday slate, with Bivouac coming off a 51-45 loss to the Triplets in which they allowed 37 second half points and scored just 20 in the second half. This game will provide a good point guard match up, with Will Bynum going against Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and Mario Chalmers, as well as a good one at forward with Rashard Lewis going head to head with Josh Smith. Though Anthony Morrow gives Bivouac a sharp shooting threat, they do not have the collection of shooters that the 3 Headed Monsters have with Lewis, Chalmers, and Abdul-Rauf. The Monsters also have a big interior advantage with Reggie Evans.
The week 4 finale has the undefeated Killer 3s (3-0), facing the 1-2 Trilogy. The Killer 3s, coming off of a dominant 50-32 week 2 win over 3s Company, defeated the 3 Headed Monsters in a 51-48 thriller last week. Stephen Jackson, the 3s leading scorer at 14.7 points per game, had 22 last week. Franklin Session had a solid game last week for the Killer 3s as well, with 10 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists. Trilogy will be able to counter Session well with quick guard Carlos Arroyo. They will need continued scoring from David Hawkins, who had 21 last week in their win over Power, to counter the scoring output of Jackson. Hawkins, as well as 6'7 James White, figure to get the defensive assignments guarding Jackson. The Killer 3s will have an interior advantage with the big Eddy Curry going up against Trilogy's Patrick O'Bryant.
Week 4 Picks
Providence: Power, Enemies, Ball Hogs
Brooklyn: Tri-State, 3 Headed Monsters, Killer 3s
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