Sports

TRILOGY EXTENDS LEAGUE DOMINANCE WITH FIFTH WIN IN CHICAGO, CLINCHES FIRST PLAYOFF BERTH

Published

7 years ago

July 24, 2017

Montez French

— BIG3 Week 5 Entertained A Sold-Out, Energetic Chicago Crowd —

— Playoff Picture Begins to Come Into Focus as 3 Headed Monsters, Power Move to 4-1 —

— Mike Bibby Drains 4-Pointer as Part of Ghost Ballers Comeback Victory —

CHICAGO — July 23, 2017 — In front of a sold-out, star-studded Chicago crowd, Trilogy moved to 5-0 behind a dominant 27-point performance from Rashad McCants while 3 Headed Monsters and Power kept pace with decisive wins. In the day’s finale, Ghost Ballers came from down 13 points to earn a hard-fought comeback victory that keeps them in playoff positioning.

In the first week of the season’s second half, four teams moved closer to locking up a spot in the BIG3 Playoffs on Aug. 20 in Seattle. With its win, Trilogy earned the first playoff berth in BIG3 history and clinched a winning season. 3 Headed Monsters and Power, both at 4-1, have clinched at least a tie for a playoff berth.

The undefeated Trilogy held its record perfect with an impressive win that kept them at the top of the league’s standings. McCants was stellar with 27 points while James White chipped in 16, showcasing Trilogy’s impressive depth.

The BIG3 saved the best for last today when Ghost Ballers and Killers 3s played a thriller down to the wire to cap the quadruple header. After falling into a 25-12 halftime hole, Ghost Ballers Mike Bibby, Ricky Davis and Ivan Johnson pulled the team back into the game. With the score 44-39, Bibby drained the day’s only 4-point shot to cut the deficit to one. After a Killers 3s layup, the Ghost Ballers closed the game with six straight points to cap a 20-6 run.

Week 5 opened with a pair of former Chicago Bulls and local favorites squaring off as Kendall Gill’s Power defeated Brian Scalabrine’s Ball Hogs after DeShawn Stevenson hit his 3rd game winning shot of the season. In the third game of the day, 3 Headed Monsters overpowered 3’s Company, coached by Allen Iverson.

Official attendance was announced at 9,044 fans. Outside UIC Pavilion, thousands more clamored for tickets to the sold-out games. Fans were treated to a surprise performance from rap legend DMX who electrified the crowd with a rendition of ‘Ruff Ryders Anthem’ that had the building singing along.

Among the star-studded crowd were Grammy Award-winning artist and Chicago native Chance the Rapper, Taraji P. Henson and six other cast members of the hit Fox show Empire, rap icons EPMD, rapper Twista, Minister Louis Farrakhan, former Chicago Bull Craig Hodges, lawyer and CNN commentator Mark Geragos and more.

BIG3 Week 5 games will air on Fox Sports 1 Monday evening at 8 p.m. ET. BIG3 Week 6 will bring its intensely competitive games to Dallas’ American Airlines Center on Sunday, July 30 at 2 p.m. CT.

See below for game summaries and video highlights from all four games. Please credit all video footage to Fox Sports 1.

GAME 1: Power (51; 4-1) vs. Ball Hogs (34; 1-4)

V ideo Highlights

Final Game Stats

Power won its second consecutive game to stay hot on the heels of the league-leading Trilogy. Behind Cuttino Mobley’s 21 points on 10-15 shooting, Power raced to an early lead and held on to defeat Ball Hogs by 17 after DeShawn Stevenson hit his third game winning shot of the season. Jerome ‘Junkyard Dog’ Williams pulled in a game-high eight rebounds while DeShawn Stevenson drained three three-pointers. Chicago fan favorite Kendall Gill contributed four points in front of his hometown crowd.

GAME 2: Trilogy (51; 5-0) vs. Tri-State (34; 1-4)

Video Highlights

Final Game Stats

BIG3 No. 1 Draft Pick Rashad McCants powered Trilogy to another dominant win. With Player Captain Al Harrington having an uncharacteristic off-game, McCants stepped up to pour in a Week 5 high 27 points on 11-17 shooting and 3-7 from three point land. With the game close at 36-30, Trilogy’s James White helped the team pull away with nine consecutive points to extend the lead to 45-30. Player Captain Kenyon Martin returned to action for the first time since Week 1 and was a +16 in a limited five minutes.

GAME 3: 3 Headed Monsters (51; 4-1) vs. 3’s Company (32; 1-4)

Video Highlights

Final Game Stats

Behind the sharp shooting of Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf (19 points) and league-leading scorer Rashard Lewis (16 points), 3 Headed Monsters took care of business against the Allen Iverson-coached 3’s Company. Kwame Brown added a double-double (11 points and 12 rebounds) as 3 Headed Monsters moved to 4-1 and a game behind Trilogy for the league lead.

GAME 4: Ghost Ballers (50; 3-2) vs. Killer 3s (45; 1-4)

Video Highlights

Final Game Stats

The final game of the day went down to the wire with Ghost Ballers edging out Killers 3s thanks a pivotal Mike Bibby 4-point shot. Down 40-32, the Ghost Ballers ripped off a 20-6 run to close the game out and stay above .500. Bibby had a Week 5-high seven assists to go with 15 points while Ivan Johnson poured in 20 points and Ricky Davis added 15. Stephen Jackson scored 22 in the the loss.

BIG3 will bring over 40 basketball stars like Allen Iverson, Julius ‘Dr. J’ Erving, Gary Payton, Kenyon Martin and more to US cities throughout the country this summer, as the eight teams compete for the title of 2017 BIG3 Champions.

For more information and to sign up for news updates, visit www.BIG3.com.

Courtsey of Fox Sports 1

Sports

Los Angeles Lakers Reportedly Make Every Player Available in Trades Except LeBron James

Published

6 years ago

January 27, 2019

Montez French

The Los Angeles Lakers have lost 6 of their last 10 games and have fell to 9th place in the western conference. With LeBron James still battling an alleged sports hernia injury, that’s had him out the last 6 weeks; LA is worried about their season. After the trade, we’ll report a bizarre trade that involved two superstars last weekend – but was shut down after the Lonzo Ball injury.

Magic Johnson, Rob Pelinka, Kobe Bryant and LeBron are now officially in panic-mode. The team has reportedly made every player on the team, except LeBron James (and client Kentavious Caldwell-Pope) available for trades. The deadline is next Thursday, February 7th at 3:00pm ET; as we expect the team to make a slew of deals that won’t include Anthony Davis.

Since their New Orleans deal is dead, the team is now focused on adding superstars through free agency. So, they’re planning to trade Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram.

With the Lake Show blueprinting things out, the likes of Terrence Ross, Trevor Ariza, Wayne Ellington, and Garrett Temple are veteran three-point shooters the team wants to add.

James who turned 34 last month, he’s suffered his first major injury, which we don’t expect to heal this season. From our examination of LeBron, he’s looking slower and has no major lift any more.

Now that his athleticism is gone and he never developed fundamentals (consistent post-scoring, off-ball play, free-throws etc); we’re not sure if this is right move to make.

Let us know in the comments if you’d trade players for the short-term

Sports

The Time Michael Jordan Lost A 1-on-1 Game

Published

6 years ago

January 17, 2019

Montez French

The Footage Michael Jordan Wants Us To Forget About…Still the GOAT!

Sports

Timberwolves Agree to Trade Jimmy Butler to 76ers

Published

6 years ago

November 10, 2018

Montez French

per ESPN:

After a standoff that has stretched into the first part of the season, the Minnesota Timberwolves have agreed to trade Jimmy Butler to the Philadelphia 76ers, league sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe.

Butler and the Sixers expect to reach a deal on a long-term contract this summer, league sources told ESPN. The Sixers made the trade to add Butler to a Big Three with Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons.

The Timberwolves will receive a package that includes Robert Covington, Dario Saric, Jerryd Bayless and a second-round pick, sources said, and Minnesota will also send Justin Patton to Philadelphia.

Butler, who is expected to become a free agent after this season, requested a trade prior to Timberwolves media day in September. He ultimately reported to the team and was averaging 21.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game for the 4-9 Timberwolves.

Once the trade is complete, the Timberwolves may waive Bayless, but the team is still considering its options, sources said.

The Sixers' odds to win the NBA title have improved from 30-1 to 16-1 at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, and their odds to win the Eastern Conference went from 7-1 to 3-1.