BIG3 Basketball Betting: Best Bets for Week 9
We've reached the postseason after another exciting BIG3 regular season, and that tees us up for what should be two exciting elimination games Sunday at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
As customary, RotoWire has quick-hit betting picks using DraftKings and FanDuel Sportsbook odds.
2024 Season BIG 3 Betting Record: 24-14
Bivouac at Tri-State (Sunday, Aug. 11, 1:00 p.m. ET)
Bivouac deftly avoided any letdown after knocking off the previously undefeated, defending-champion Enemies in Week 7 by topping Triplets in a hard-fought 51-46 win in Week 8. Gary Payton's club withstood dominant performances by Triplets' Jeff Ayres and Jeremy Pargo with the help of another stellar effort from Corey Brewer (21 points, nine rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks). Jaylen Johnson (19 points, seven boards) and Garlon Green (nine points, 14 rebounds) were also instrumental in helping Bivouac finish the regular season at 7-1, the league's best record.
Tri-State punched its playoff ticket with a 50-34 dismantling of Ghost Ballers in Week 8, a victory in which Kevin Murphy once again put the team on his shoulders with a 22-point, five-rebound, four-assist effort. Henry Sims (14 points, four rebounds), Ray Nixon (eight points) and Amir Johnson (six points, eight rebounds, three assists) all had important complementary contributions to set up the first meeting of 2024 with Bivouac.
This should be a game that lives up to its potential, as the play of Brewer, Green, Murphy and Nixon has particularly been consistent throughout the season. The individual matchup between Brewer and Murphy will be the game-within-the-game to watch, as it is a true strength vs. strength showdown of Brewer's defensive acumen and Murphy's prolific scoring capability. The availability of Tri-State's Jason Richardson, who's been hampered by a knee issue, could also play a big part in how competitive this game is.
Both teams can score and play solid defense, but I see Bivouac as the slightly more capable squad all the way around. In what should be a wire-to-wire battle, I'm taking the -2.5 line on DK for Bivouac – a full two points lower than the one on FD – and banking on the team's impressive +47 point differential on the season manifesting itself in the form of a victory of at least three points.
BIG3 Picks for Bivouac at Tri-State
- Bivouac -2.5 (-110 on DraftKings Sportsbook)
3's Company at Enemies (Sunday, Aug. 11, 2:00 p.m. ET)
Michael Cooper couldn't have asked for a more spectacular path into the postseason than the one his 3's Company squad blazed in Week 8, as they throttled the Enemies by a shocking 50-23 score. The defending champs had gotten used to manhandling most teams on their way to a 6-0 record, but after a narrow defeat to Bivouac in Week 7, they afforded 3's Company a heavy dose of confidence going into this high-stakes rematch with the lopsided loss. Michael Beasley unsurprisingly led the way for 3's Company with 17 points and also posted eight rebounds, but unlike some recent weeks, he had some help – Mario Chalmers (14 points) and Nasir Core (11 points) were sharp on the offensive end, while Reggie Evans (11 rebounds) exhibited trademark dominance on the glass.
Nick Young's Enemies undoubtedly will have a chip on their shoulder for this do-or-die clash, and perhaps the alarming 27-point loss will serve as a wake-up call for a team that is exponentially better than what it showed in Week 8. Perhaps the single biggest culprit in the meltdown was Jordan Crawford, who'd been instrumental to his team's success all season but was only able to muster two points in Week 8. Without his contributions and modest 19 combined points from Elijah Stewart and Isaiah Austin, Enemies had no realistic chance of keeping up with 3's Company's well-balanced attack.
As already alluded to, I'm definitely in the camp of a much better performance by the Enemies, which scored an impressive 371 points in the regular season even when factoring in the Week 8 outlier. 3's Company undoubtedly feels it has a formula on how to attack successfully against this team, but whether Beasley can get the same amount of help from the likes of Chalmers and Core is a fair question, considering they haven't consistently performed as well as they did in Week 8.
Ultimately, I'm not ruling out a second straight win for 3's Company, but it's a bit surprising to see Enemies as underdogs of as much as 3.5 points. I'm biting on that opportunity and banking on them snapping out of their funk enough to keep any loss to three points or fewer.
BIG3 Picks for 3's Company at Enemies
- Enemies +3.5 (-114 on FanDuel Sportsbook)
BIG3 Week 9 Best Bets Recap
- Bivouac -2.5 (-110 on DraftKings Sportsbook)
- Enemies +3.5 (-114 on FanDuel Sportsbook)
