If the opening night of Unrivaled provides any indication of what’s to come, basketball fans can anticipate a very fun eight weeks.
In the months, weeks and days leading up to the 3×3 women’s basketball league’s tipoff, players talked about how fast the game would be. That was not just hype.
The style of play is very quick on the 72-foot court, with fewer players on the court allowing for more space. One-on-one play and ballhandling skills are rewarded. But there is also plenty of room for cutting to the basket and screening for open 3-pointers.
One-on-one defense is also more important. In the first game, Mist BC‘s Jewell Loyd was left wide open on her first couple of shots. In regular 5×5 play, she may have faced a double-team or at least a defender would have come over to help in the lane. Not in this 3×3 format. Poor defense can be exposed quickly.
Breanna Stewart became the answer to a trivia question by scoring the first basket in Unrivaled history with a short baseline jumper. Loyd hit the league’s first-ever 3-pointer, while Allisha Gray made the first free throw.
And Skylar Diggins-Smith nailed Unrivaled’s first game-winning shot, swishing a 3-pointer to reach the winning score and give Lunar Owls BC an 84-80 win.
Yes, the two teams play to a target score — or “winning score,” as Unrivaled puts it — determined by adding 11 points to the highest total at the end of the third quarter.
The first three quarters of the game last seven minutes, but the fourth quarter is untimed with teams needing to get to that winning number. In the first game, Mist had a 73-67 lead, so 84 was the winning score to reach.
Knowing what number they needed to score gave Lunar Owls some urgency. With the score tied at 78-78, Diggins-Smith put the pressure on with a 3-pointer to put her team one basket away from the win. Loyd scored to make it an 80-78 game, but Diggins-Smith drilled a 3 for the win.
Dearica Hamby put Vinyl BC over the winning score of 78 in the second game, hitting a fast-break layup on a dish across the lane from Arike Ogunbowale, who passed up the possible game-winner for a sure assist and a 79-73 win.
The pace of play and open court seemed ideally suited to Loyd’s skills. Taking her defender off the dribble or moving to get open behind the 3-point line, the star guard finished her Unrivaled debut with 34 points while shooting 4-for-9 on 3s. Napheesa Collier led Lunar Owls with 27 points and 10 rebounds.
In the second game, Rhyne Howard utilized her experience in 3×3 play to an advantage in Vinyl BC’s 79-73 win over Rose BC. She finished with 33 points, shooting 6-for-12 from 3-point range. Kahleah Copper led Rose with 24 points, while Angel Reese grabbed 12 rebounds.
Remember the NBA bubble in Orlando during the COVID pandemic? Unrivaled playing its games in what’s basically a sound stage with just 850 seats might remind viewers of the smaller, more intimate setting from the 2020 NBA season. It’s much closer to a high school gym or college field house.
One important difference is that there are fans at these games to provide cheers and reactions that add an atmosphere the bubble games lacked.
As a TV viewer, the interplay between coaches and players is more accessible. More of the strategy during timeouts and between quarters and more exchanges between the head coach and assistants can be heard on camera. If there are any arguments or disagreements, they will be fully apparent. That could create some intriguing television as the season progresses.
Unrivaled continues on Saturday with Phantom BC playing Laces BC at 2 p.m. ET, followed by Lunar Owls versus Rose scheduled for 3 p.m. ET. Both games will be televised on truTV.
