Yardbarker
x
The BIG3 in L.A.: The reverse Danny Almonte comes to Staples Center
At 29 years old, Xavier Silas has stood out for the Ball Hogs in the BIG3. Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

The BIG3 in L.A.: The reverse Danny Almonte comes to Staples Center

The BIG3 had its eighth and final week of the regular season at Staples Center, and I was there. So many dominant teams played at Staples. The Magic-Kareem Lakers. The Drew Doughty Kings. The Shaq-Kobe Lakers. And, of course, the Harrington-McCants Trilogy squad that has rolled through the BIG3 season undefeated. If Trilogy doesn’t lose the rest of the way, maybe James “Flight” White can finally get a statue outside the arena.

By all accounts, the BIG3 is happy with its attendance numbers so far, and the TV ratings have been unspectacular but OK. The league has averaged about the same viewership as the Big East Tournament. But two teams were already locked in to their playoff spots and another eliminated, how would it affect those numbers? And would Ice Cube have to threaten punishments if teams rested their starters? How would the BIG3 keep excitement up?

With stunts. League Commissioner Ice Cube invited his good friend Snoop Dogg to perform. Cube himself challenged LaVar Ball to a four-point shooting contest. And Killer 3s coach Charles Oakley suited up to play. As for the games, well, at least one playoff spot was up for grabs!

That’s where the dichotomy of the league comes in. The BIG3 always emphasizes the competitiveness of the games, and the league keeps surprisingly detailed statistics. If you’ve ever wanted to know Cuttino Mobley’s usage rate, that information and more is available to you on the league's site! But the fans seem most interested in the celebrity of the players. For instance, Allen Iverson gets by far the biggest cheers, though he’s played three games and scored six points all summer.

First, the players are announced as they run out of a tunnel through fake fog. Immediately I noticed that Jerome “Junk Yard Dog” Williams was wearing a dog muzzle, which he also wore during shootaround. Others have described it as a “Bane mask,” which is probably the reason why Hines Ward didn’t attend the game. Whatever it was, the fans were into it.

Jeffrey Osborne sang the national anthem, where all players appeared to be standing. There’s a reason Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf’s team was scheduled for the late game. The Junk Yard Dog removed his muzzle out of respect for the troops. After that, an animated Ice Cube explained the rules of the BIG3, which are both simple and cumbersome at the same time, technical fouls especially. It made me want to see more of Ice Cube’s work in animated form, in particular "xXx 2: State of the Union."

The opening game was Cuttino Mobley’s 4-3 Power playing Bonzi Wells’s 2-5 Tri-State, who still had an outside shot at the playoffs. Speaking of outside shots, DeShawn Stevenson lit it up right away from deep and finished with six made threes. The key to offensive success in the BIG3 seems to be outside shooting, plus the old man's version of fast breaks. Actually, when it’s Bonzi Wells in 2017, it’s just breaks. My companion estimated that Bonzi was playing at “a cool 300 pounds” today. If there’s an air ball, a steal or a block — any play where the defensive team doesn’t have to clear the ball — it becomes an enormous advantage.

That’s how Tri-State won the game. Stevenson hit a bunch of threes, but Tri-State blocked two threes, which turned into instant layups, including the game-winner. We also had the debut of the dance squad, who seemed like it could get some back of the bench minutes for an NBA dance team. But, like the BIG3 players, physical limitations and age concerns are holding them back. Tri-State also received a technical foul, which gave Power FOUR free points, for “excessive timeout.” From what I could tell, it happened because someone was talking to Chad Ochocinco. Summer league basketball!

Game 2 featured Al Harrington’s 7-0 Trilogy trying to stay unbeaten against Stephen Jackson’s 2-5 Killer 3s. Stack Jack also had a chance at the league scoring title, but people mainly cared about Charles Oakley suiting up to play. And Oak picked up right where he left off! Not as a player, but where he left off at Madison Square Garden this summer. Very early on, he came close to fighting James “Flight” White. He fouled on every single play. It wasn’t always whistled, but Oak always hit his opponent. He even drew a flagrant foul for backhanding Al Harrington, a play that was replayed approximately 75 times on the Jumbotron. It also drew the game’s second video review, which I suspect was done to give Oakley a chance to breathe.

Snoop Dogg performed at halftime, and it was terrific. He added a BIG3-specific lyrics to his one verse of “The Next Episode,” he did “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” and he kept saying, “Rapaport, where you at?” We are so lucky to have Snoop Dogg in our lives. Also, he’s a perfect fit for the BIG3 because he peaked in the mid-'90s.

The second half got truly strange. Former Laker Brian Cook went on a one-man 15-0 run to drag the Killer 3s back into the game. Then he was replaced by a 54-year-old bully who alternately threw up elbows and air balls. Meanwhile, the crowd was screaming every time he touched the ball, like he’s a high school equipment manager playing in garbage time. The problem was not just that they lost Cook’s scoring; Oakley was also pissing the other team off, so the opposition stopped being deferential and started dunking his air ball.

Was this a good strategy for the team in a winning sense? No. Did I thoroughly enjoy it? Yes. The most famous guys aren’t always the best. Going forward, the BIG3’s hope presumably is it can get the Oakley types when they’re 39 instead of 54.


3's Company player-coach Allen Iverson showed off his ice at the Staples Center. Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images

Game 3 was Allen Iverson’s 3’s Company facing Brian Scalabrine’s Ball Hogs. While both these teams are fine, it’s a bad sign that the draw for both is having team captains that play sparingly. Granted, it was legitimately exciting to see Allen Iverson, who wore so much jewelry that Ice Cube is already planning a dress code next season and some truly enormous white shorts. It’s the largest pair of shorts I’ve ever seen on a person who didn’t direct "Chasing Amy."

The Ball Hogs' season changed when they traded for Xavier Silas, though at the time all I could imagine was Adrian Wojnarowski frantically working the phones so he can drop Woj bombs about Mo Evans. Xavier Silas is a fine player, son of an ABA star and 29 years old. When he was born, Charles Oakley was finishing his third NBA season! Nearly everyone in the league is 35 or older, so of course Silas can dominate. He’s like a reverse Danny Almonte, the kid who tore it up at the Little League World Series while playing kids five years younger than him.

(Side note: The dance team adopted this same tactic for its second performance, adding three little girls to the front of the formation,. It was very cute, but all I could think was, “That’s the Xavier Silas of dance teams.”)

The game was very close throughout but also had noticeably fewer people in the stands. Andre Owens and Derrick Byars are both having excellent basketball summers. No one in the crowd cares! But they couldn’t help getting swept up when the game was tied 44-44. Byars missed a free throw that turned into a three-pointer by Owens. Then Silas drilled a four-pointer for the Ball Hogs. That made it 48-47, and I realized we had reached SUDDEN DEATH GOLDEN GOAL basketball. You rarely get to see frantic, do-or-die basketball like this, particularly with no clock. Players started diving for loose balls, people gasped at every tipped ball and eventually the Ball Hogs scored. They knocked out 3’s Company and ruined the league’s dream of Allen Iverson going to the playoffs in street clothes.

The crowd was visibly tiring heading into the final game, but wisely the league saved the Ball-Cube shootout for the very last halftime. There was a lot of fun stuff to watch: Ghost Ballers made the playoffs with a win, Rashard Lewis could win the scoring title and Joe Smith battled Kwame Brown down low, like a draft bust version of "Frost/Nixon." If only they could have gotten Michael Olowokandi and Stromile Swift into the mix!

Ghost Ballers took a narrow halftime lead, and then the shootout was on. Despite seeing seven halves of basketball, the whole crowd got on its feet for Ice Cube and the NBA’s most beloved wrestling heel. Immediately, Ball tried to cheat by pretending one of Ice Cube’s makes was actually his. He did drain one, but Ice Cube prevailed, 2-1. Afterward, there was a mass exodus — clearly Big Ballers are more popular than Ghost Ballers these days. The arena DJ also played the theme song to HBO’s “Ballers” during one possession, and like any episode of Ballers, the possession was disorganized, athletes were out of shape and the ending was disappointing. The Ghost Ballers won the game easily, Rashard Lewis won the scoring title and Mike Bibby set the single-season four-pointer record with six.
How was the BIG3 as a live experience? It was entertaining, though somewhat dull. Kids in the stands liked it a lot. The basketball is not great, but at the same time, watching old basketball players is very compelling.

I do think the BIG3 has proved it's not just a novelty act, which is why I think the future of the league is to behave more like a novelty act. Mic up the coaches. Mic up Rapaport. Do something to encourage dunking. Go full Bill Veeck! And if all else fails? N.W.A. reunion and skills challenge. You can invite LaVar, but don't let him rap.

More must-reads:

Customize Your Newsletter

+

Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.