Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images
Almost twenty years after being drafted by the Celtics, Gerald Green helped lead Bivouac to a Big3 title in the same arena where he scored his first NBA basket.
Two months after the Celtics lifted the Larry O’Brien trophy, confetti once again inundated the parquet. Only this time, instead of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum at the center of celebrations, it was a different cast of basketball players who raucously rejoiced at a championship.
On Sunday afternoon, Bivouac — the Big3 Team led by brothers Gerald and Garlon Green — defeated Michael Beasley’s 3’s Company in the title game. The championship was the culmination of 10 weeks of play that spanned 10 U.S. cities as part of rapper Ice Cube’s Big 3, professional three-on-three league that boasts dozens of former NBA players, and travels across the country to compete.
For Gerald Green, who was drafted by the Celtics in 2005, the opportunity to celebrate a title in the same arena where he first laced up as a 19-year-old NBA player was particularly meaningful. He was named the MVP of the Big3 championship game after scoring 18 points on six made threes, and celebrated with cigars in the same postgame press conference room where the Celtics reflected on the road to Banner 18 in June.
“This is where it all started,” an emotional Gerald Green told SB Nation postgame. “This is the team that gave me a chance — in this building. I’m scoring my first NBA bucket in this building.”
For one afternoon, TD Garden returned to championship form
Celtics fans — and basketball fans more broadly — filled the stands for a Big3 triple-header on Sunday. First, fans tuned into an eclectic celebrity showcase game featuring Bachelor star Matt James, LSU basketball player Flau’jae Johnson, former NFL tight end Vernon Davis, and a slew of famous rappers. Then, the Big3 All-Star game — headlined by former NBA players Jeff Teague and Jordan Crawford — was underway.
Finally came the main event: a championship game between the last two Big3 teams standing, Bivouac and 3’s Company. Bivouac, coached by NBA Hall of Fame player Gary Payton, took a 13-point halftime lead and held on despite a late rally by Michael Beasley, the recently-named MVP of the league.
Beasley exploded for a game-high 28 points alongside 12 rebounds and 3 assists, and Mario Chalmers added 9 points — but 3’s Company couldn’t complete the comeback. Garlon Green hit the game-winning basket to help Bivouach pull out the 50-47 win.
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images for BIG3
The moment was particularly significant to Garlon Green, who reflected on how during the height of his brother’s NBA career, he was struggling.
“My brother was drafted here, and it’s special to me,” Garlon Green said. “A small back story with me — I was on about five years ago. Had a little bit of shame — my brother was killing it, and I felt a little bit like I let my brother down. To be able to come back here, where he was drafted, where he played most of his career, and help him win a championship, it gives me chills.”
Garlon finished his season as the Big3 player with the most rebounds, third-most assists, and 8th-most points.
For Gerald Green, the confetti fell two decades after draft night
It was a long road, but Gerald Green finally got to celebrate a championship at TD Garden.
Selected 18th overall by the Celtics in 2005, Green spent his first two seasons adjusting to Boston before being sent to Minnesota in the trade that brought Kevin Garnett to the Celtics. Throughout his 13-year NBA tenure, he played for the Timberwolves, Rockets, Mavericks, Nets, Paces, Suns, and Heat, averaging 9.7 points per game.
He returned to the Celtics for the 2016-17 season, the same year Jaylen Brown was drafted. and the Celtics lost to the Cavaliers in the Conference Finals. Green served as a reliable rotation piece during that playoff run, averaging 7.5 points in 15 minutes a night.
Photo by Jim Davis/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Green said he often comes to Boston to visit his kids: “The Bostonians are always showing me love out here. I’m always showing love back.”
He was never able to capture the highly elusive NBA championship, but as he celebrated a Big3 title in front of thousands of fans donning Celtics green, it no longer mattered.
“A championship is a championship,” Green said. “Can’t take it away from me.”
In the aftermath of the Big3 title, Green reminisced on the odds he had to overcome to even become a professional basketball player. For starter, in the sixth grade, he lost a significant portion of his right finger after attempting to dunk on a makeshift basketball hoop while wearing a ring.
“I have nine fingers, and I always thought ‘I’ll be an NBA player’,” he said. “I always had confidence. People used to laugh at me and be like, ‘no way.’ I always knew that I could do it.”
He also reflected on his upbringing: “I was a kid coming from the hood. Don’t know anything, had no support when I was growing up, but I was always confident in myself.”
After the win, head coach Gary Payton praised Green for his leadership and offer to remove himself from the starting lineup.
“Gerald, who was our captain, came to me and said, ‘coach, I want to come off the bench. I want to be that inspirational guy.’ To do what he did — that’s leadership.”
Is this the best 3×3 league in the world?
Earlier this month, Ice Cube challenged the Netherlands 3×3 Olympic basketball team, the who won gold in Paris, to come to Boston for a 3×3 game with a $250,000 cash prize on the line. The Netherlands accepted, but FIBA didn’t sanction the event, according to Ice Cube.
Still, Garlon Green strongly objected to the notion that Olympic 3×3 play was a higher level of basketball than the Big3’s.
“This is the best three-on-three league in the world, hand down,” he said postgame. “FIBA? I ain’t trying to hear none of that. We’re the best three-on-three players in the world, and it means a lot to win a championship in this league.”
The Big3 League follows slightly different rules than FIBA 3×3 basketball — teams play until 50 points rather than an allotted 10 minutes, utilize a 14-second shot clock, and can shoot from a four-point line, among other differences. And while a Netherlands-Bivouac game doesn’t seem like it’s in the cards, the level of talent in the Big3 is undeniable. Alongside the Green brothers, the winning team included Corey Brewer — a former lottery pick who played in the NBA for 13 season — and two G-League standouts, Jaylen Johnson, and Javier Carter.
For those players, this title isn’t just a late-career accomplishment. It’s something that will always matter.
“This is my time,” Gerald Green said. “I’m built for this shit — always have been.”
