Playoff Teams Gear Up. Losers Battle For Pride In Final Week of Ice Cubes Big Three

in #steemsports6 years ago




SteemSports Presenter:@mateonav53
SteemSports Editor:@scottybuckets
The final week of the regular season of Ice Cube's Big Three League is at our doorstep. It was certainly an entertaining year, with new teams like Power and 3 Headed Monsters rising to the cream of the crop, while old champions Trilogy floundered all year. Teams that have qualified for the Big Three Playoffs are hoping to cop a solid win heading into the postseason, while squads mathematically eliminated are looking to restore some sense of lost pride.
If you've never caught the action before, the Big Three League sets up games of 3-on-3 between former NBA regulars, with a few ex-stars sprinkled in between. The rules are slightly different here, where they incorporate a 4-point shot, have a reduced shot clock, and the winner is decided by who gets to 50 while winning by at least two points. It's a nice twist on the standard rules and is great entertainment for basketball junkies looking for their fix in the off-season. Some of these guys like Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Amare Stoudemire, Cory Magette, and Big Baby Davis can actually still play.

There are eight teams in this league and all of them face-off on Friday at a new arena each time. This week, matches will be held at the Infinite Energy Arena in Atlanta, Georgia starting at 4 PM EST. We will see #6 Killer Three's vs. #3 Three's Company, #2 3 Headed Monsters vs. #8 Ghost Ballers, #4 Tri-State vs. #5 Trilogy, and #1 Power vs. #7 Ball Hogs.
The top four-seeded teams are already locks to make the playoffs, each sporting records above 5-2. The next-closest team, #5 Trilogy, sit at a paltry 2-5. Playoff positioning is effectively decided, with Power, 3 Headed Monsters, Three's Company, and Tri-State all garnering spots in the first round. Power should be squaring off with Tri-State while 3 Headed Monsters will take on Three's Company.

The final games of the regular season are all looking like predictable battles where the higher seed of the two will prevail. If there's any chance of an upset, I think it'll be in the Tri-State vs. Trilogy game. I just think Trilogy are going to come out with an edge given how disappointing they've played all year. A victory for Trilogy won't mean a thing in the standings, but I think their lackluster display all year will grant them a fire in the final game.
There's also a chance that Three's Company could be upset by the Killer Three's. Three's Company haven't had Baron Davis their last couple of games, so maybe Killer Three's can eek out a win if Baron doesn't suit up. Killer Three's have had a disappointing year too given the talent on their roster of Stephen Jackson, Metta World Peace, and Alan Anderson. Chauncey Billups is on the roster for Killer too, but he's sat out all year recovering from an injury. His presence might've shaken up the league and led to Killer being a force to be reckoned with. Alas, he'll have an opportunity next year if he wants to follow through with the Big Three and this team again.
The 3 Headed Monsters and Power games this week will probably be blowouts. Their opponents, Ghost Ballers and Ball Hogs, have been the consistently weakest in the league. Maybe their coaches will even sit their crucial players like the way the NBA does before playoff time. I predict that the final two in the championship game will be 3 Headed and Power given the consistency both have shown all year. If you have some free time on Friday night, check out the Big Three League on the channel Fox Sports One!


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I'm going to go with you and take 'Killer Threes' to pull off the upset special. I'll go out on a short limb and say that the talent on that team finally plays up to their potential and they pull one off...

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