BIG3 Week 2: The league adjusts as it heads to Charlotte

The first BIG3 matchup of the day features two winless teams searching for their crucial first victory. In Week 1, Tri-State was a basket away from victory, leading 58-57 before Jerome Williams dunked and DeShawn Stevenson drained a game-winning three-pointer, and presumably commemorated it with body art from his personal tattoo artist. Meanwhile, the Ball Hogs got very little scoring from their captains in a 61-51 loss. Josh Childress scored only four points, and Brian Scalabrine (hilariously playing with “W. Mamba” on the back of his jersey) just hit one basket, though he did pull down 10 boards.

Tri-State almost totally ignored the outside shot in Game 1, but the team shared the ball and dominated inside. Jermaine O’Neal, Bonzi Wells and Lee Nailon all shot a high percentage, and Mike James surprisingly took care of the boards. They played like an early-2000s Eastern Conference playoff team, which makes sense, because that’s when most of these guys thrived. O’Neal will be out this week, replaced by Lou Amundson, who was in the NBA as recently as 2016. He’s going to bring his own special skill: being younger than almost everyone else.

Meanwhile, the Ball Hogs’ offensive philosophy last week was to let Rasual Butler take as many threes as possible. He went 6-18 from long range, but it didn't work. This time, they’ll need him to make some shots, while Dominic McGuire brings his signature brand of being only 31 years old. Maybe the White Mamba can take advantage of Tri-State’s missing center, but it looks like they’re slithering to 0-2.

Game 2: Trilogy vs. 3-Headed Monsters

Last week, the 3-Headed Monsters endured the loss of Jason Williams (out for six to eight months with a knee injury) and rode the rebounding of Rashard Lewis and Kwame Brown to victory. Kwame looked great — athletic, muscular, dominating smaller players — and that has never deceived anyone about Kwame Brown ever before. This week, they’ll have even more rebounding and even less ball-handling as Hakim Warrick joins the squad.

Trilogy dominated the shorthanded Killer 3’s last week, but they also suffered an injury as captain Kenyon Martin went down. He’s day-to-day, so we could be seeing replacement player Jannero “Don’t call me Jeremy” Pargo this week. With K-Mart out or hobbled, Al Harrington becomes their primary big man. Don’t expect Big Al to put up 27 shots again this week, but do expect a serious small vs. big dynamic for this matchup. The Monsters will need shooting from Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, or Lewis is going to have to hit another four-pointer. It’s not coming from Warrick, who was a 19 percent career shooter from downtown in the NBA.

Rashad McCants went No. 1 in the draft, and this is the week he needs to justify his selection. None of the Monsters can guard him one-on-one, so he should be able to put up points. It’s going to come down to which top pick — Kwame or Rashad — ends up disappointing his team the least. Expect the Monsters to get it done in a slugfest.

Game 3: Power vs. Killer 3’s

Power is another winning team that lost a key player in Week 1, with co-captain Corey Maggette having to get lower leg surgery this week. His replacement is Paul McPherson, who had a long international hoops career that included a stint with the Harlem Globetrotters. In other words, this guy knows winning basketball. Still, this team has Cuttino Mobley and Moochie Norris — would it kill them to reunite with Steve Francis for a week?

They got by sans Maggette with the shooting of DeShawn Stevenson, along with the expected rebounding and unexpected assisting from Jerome Williams. A Junkyard Dog can be generous! They’re a balanced squad, and while Stevenson might not shoot this well again, Mobley should do better than his 5-20 line from Week 1.

Meanwhile, the Killer 3’s are still stuck waiting on Chauncey Billups to choose between Ice Cube and Dan Gilbert. It’s the BIG3 vs. the NBA, Compton vs. Cleveland, the Predator vs. the predatory loans. And the fate of the Killer 3’s this year depends on Billups choosing wisely — by which, we mean, the BIG3 of course. No offense to replacement player Eddie Robinson and his stellar career with the Halifax Rainmen, but Chauncey is in a different class. They’ve got a ton of toughness, which is important since they’re going to be putting up a ton of bricks. Reggie Evans and Stephen Jackson are as tough as they come, but scoring points with this roster will be real tough as well. Unless Larry Hughes can step up, the Killer 3’s are getting killed.

Game 4: 3’s Company vs. Ghost Ballers

Allen Iverson got his first victory as a professional coach last week, no doubt due to his grueling four-hour practices. Ruben Patterson and Al Thornton panted their way through relentless wind sprints as A.I. yelled, “That’s right! We’re talking about PRACTICE!”

He’s definitely proved himself as an executive, drafting breakout star Andre Owens (20 points, 15 rebounds, five assists and four three-pointers in the opener).

In the first game, Iverson himself only played a few minutes, though Ice Cube claims it was due to a size disadvantage, not age or conditioning. If that’s the case, he should be able to extend his minutes against the smaller Ghost Ballers. The rest of 3’s Company has plenty of size to support the Answer along with a good blend of defense and rebounding. They won by 10 with Iverson shooting 1-6. Imagine how well they’ll do if a few more of his jumpers go in.

The Ghost Ballers fate lies, as usual, in the hands of Ricky Davis, specifically the hot hands. Mike Bibby is a more accurate shooter, but he doesn’t need it as desperately as Ricky does, so Ricky is going to double his shot attempts. Ruben Patterson may have been a Kobe stopper, but there’s no such thing as a Ricky stopper.

It’s the Answer vs. the Question-able Shot Selection, and while the Ghost Ballers are definite underdogs, imagine how sweet it would be for Ricky to beat 3’s Company with a barrage of threes.