Ice Cube's much anticipated BIG3 league kicked off on Sunday and I think it's time for a few of these guys to kick the bucket. I'M KIDDING!
Yes, four guys -- Jason Williams, Corey Maggette, Kenyon Martin and Rashad McCants -- all suffered injuries. Yes, Allen Iverson looked more like Oprah Sideverson during his few minutes on the court. But, how great was it to see White Chocolate, former #1 picks like The Oak Cliff Bully and one of the greatest and most influential players of all-time, Allen Iverson, lace up the sneakers and play in a NBA arena again? A packed Barclays arena that probably has Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov a little jealous. A packed Barclays arena full of celebs (What's up Whoopi), Nets (What's up D'Angelo), rap legends (What's up LL) and potential MVPs like James Harden -- good to see he showed up for a Big (3) game.
As for the action, no we didn't get to see Allen Iverson play like he did in the 2001 Finals against the Black Mamba; We did get to see Iverson go 1-on-1 with the White Mamba! That alone is worth the price of admission. In his "duel" with the Brian Scalabrine, Iverson finished with 2 points on 1 for 6 shooting, 2 assists, 1 board and 1 steal in 9 minutes of action; Michael Rapaport's doppelganger finished with 2 points on 1 for 3 shooting, 3 assists and 10 boards in 14 minutes.
Besides that epic duel, we got a game-winner from Deshawn "Hey LeBron, How's My Dirk Taste" Stevenson and a double-double (17 & 13) from Kwame Brown! Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan would have loved to seen those numbers from the former #1 pick. Again, I'm kidding around! But seriously, the Big 3 is great. It's not great like NBA Finals between the Warriors and Cavs great but it's Faaaaaarrr from the NBA legends game of the early 90s. To me, it's great basketball entertainment and an opportunity for long-time basketball fans to see some of their favorite players in one place. My only real complaint is the games are tape delayed so I wont get to watch the games on TV until a day after I've already read all the stats and seen pics and clips from the games.
Speaking of stats, here's a few standouts.
