source:fiba.basketball
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The strongest individual performances of players in the history of 3×3

3×3 basketball has an approximately 10 years long history of big tournaments. During that period, we saw a bunch of exciting games, excellent tournaments, big teams, and great players on the court. What about individual displays of 3×3 players? We are here to remind you about the biggest and most influential performances of players. The performances changed the view of 3×3 basketball in a long run. In the next paragraphs, you will get reminiscence which will be stuck in your head forever and which you can tell about your grandchildren with passion.

Corey Campbell made an incredible show for his Denver against Philadelphia in Masters in Puerto Rico in 2013. San Juan City was the location where Corey shined like the brightest star nine years ago. Campbell, believe it or not, scored 19 out of 20 points for his Colorado team. 3×3 audience and experts called him Sniper, for a big reason. He won a New York Masters ten years ago and was the best scorer at Chicago Masters in 2014. Campbell is also known as undefeated against Bulut mighty Novi Sad at that time.

Corey was on real fire that day and his teammates recognized his good mood in that game from the first moment. His team was provoked by one guy in Philadelphia and that motivated him a lot. His colleagues encouraged him to shoot as much as possible because they saw he made baskets from everything. Campbell listened to them and decided to go with the flow. Corey scored from different distances and this clash will be remembered in the brain of supporters. He practically brought the win for Denver.

Kodai Kawachi was representing Japan at Asia U18 Cup in 2016.  Japan was playing in the group against South Korea and it was 11-6 on the scoreline four minutes before the end of the game. Kodai then scored four two-point shots and one one-point shot to bring his country 20-07 lead. It was an unbelievable row of scoring for Kawachi and spectators on the court were going mad.  Japan couldn’t go all the way in that tournament, but Kodai’s inspiration in those two minutes pushed Japan to “sprint win” in that match.

Payton Pritchard from the USA was at his top at FIBA U18 World Cup in 2015. Payton scored amazing 9 two-point shots for only 4 minutes and 15 seconds in a game against Poland. Pritchard had 19 points on his account at the end of the fixture. In translation, Pritchard made 1 shot from a long distance every 28 seconds which is a fascinating achievement. It’s hard to imagine someone will reach that kind of record in one 3×3 basketball game. Payton’s final score in that tournament was 53 points in seven played games.

R J Abarrientos, the Filipino player, had a one-man show performance against superior Iran in the 2019 Asia Cup. The Philippines missed the service of their star Ricci Rivero. R J Abarrientos took charge of his team as he scored shocking 18 points. Abarrientos was lethal from two points range and he scored 7 shots beyond the arc.  R J was even injured during that game, but his fighting spirit prevailed and he wrote himself in Filipino mythical books. He proved to be the man for the big scene and decisive moments in basket games.

Anze Srebovt played for Slovenia at Europe Cup 2016 and they faced Russia in the semifinal. Anze was highly motivated and he finished the game with 17 points. It was an outstanding performance of Srebovt which contributed to a convincing 21-10 victory over Russia.  Anza Serov showed versatility in scoring and was the best scorer of the event. The game against Russia on the road to the final is considered to be one of the best individual performances in this beautiful sport. Slovenia became European champions later.

Michael Hicks was born in the USA but played for Poland. Poland had a clash against defending champions in the game for the bronze medal at World Cup in 2019 in Netherland. Michael Hicks scored 13 points against Serbia and added 8 rebounds on his account. Especially outstanding was Hick’s shoot for two points beyond the arc in which he had been also fouled. Those points secured Poland a win in the last seconds of the game. Michael was the best scorer of that tournament as he had two games with 17 points in the competition.

Sara Krumpholcova, the Czech female player, was Most Valuable Player at Europe Cup U18 2016 and she led her team to the gold. The same year, Sara had an unbelievable show in the game against Venezuela in the World Cup U18. Krumpholcova succeeded to score seven shots behind the arc in only seven minutes. Sara Krumpholcova finished the game with 17 points which was a positive shock for the audience of 3×3 basketball. The Czech Republic won that game of course with 21-5, but ended the competition in the semifinal.

Dejan Majstorovic, the Serbian maestro, was representing team Novi Sad for a long time. His Novi Sad played without main star Dusan Bulut in a challenger in Mongolian Penang in 2019. Dejan was on fire the whole tournament, but the most recognizable performance in his career came in the game against Tokyo in the semifinal. Majstorovic had his day as he was firing from all weapons to bring his team a 21-14 victory. Dejan Majstorovic scored 16 points and team Novi Sad eventually lifted the trophy thanks to his performances.

Maksim Kovacevic, a player from Serbian team Liman, provided an amazing display of skills during a game against Riga in the final of Debrecen Masters in 2019. Maksim scored 12 points with a bandage on his head and his field goal from outside the ark percentage was 63. The performance is better if we know the fact that Liman played without substitutions and that players were more tired than usual. The warrior spirit of Kovacevic brought a 21-18 win in a thrilling game and the trophy deservedly came to Liman.

Soraya Mohamed, the Egyptian lady, shined like the brightest star in a 3×3 Africa cup 2019. The finest performances from Soraya came in the first game of the championship against Benin. She finished the game with 16 points on her account. Soraya Mohamed scored 5 two-pointers and added to that great and fascinating moves and passes to her teammates. Her Egypt steamrolled Benin with 21-11 and went all the way to win the gold medal. Egyptian supporters called her Cleopatra of Egyptian 3×3 and we know why after that fixture.

We must add one urban legend which is not 100% true to the already mentioned 10 individual plays of the 3×3 basketball history. There is a rumor going on for years in the 3×3 basketball world that Puerto Rico’s player Luis Gonzalez scored a record number of points in one game -20. It happens to be the game from U18 World Cup 2018 in Debrecen. The fixture is not recorded and there is no video material on the Internet. Spark is running for seven years and we have some oral proofs of what turned out to be the best performance of one player in 3X3 basketball history.

There are for sure more mentionable individual shows which can be under category worth mentioning, but these 10 are the biggest by the majority of opinions of 3×3 basketball experts. Those performances have left a landmark in the tradition of 3×3 and motivated a lot of young boys and girls to start training in front of their houses. Those are remarkable achievements for a sport with such a short history. For sure, we expect those records to be broken. We can just sit in our chairs and wait for that moment to come.

About the author

Marjan Nikolic

Passionate sports guy, coming from the eastern Europe where best basketball is played (yeah, I know you will not agree!). Dynamic 3x3 basket has special place in my heart.

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