While it’s been almost a decade since Brian Scalabrine last suited up as a player for the Celtics, the fan-favorite baller plans to rain buckets back at the TD Garden as part of the BIG3 league’s stop in Boston.
Of course, Scalabrine hasn’t strayed too far away from the famed venue since leaving the NBA, first as a player then a coach, to pursue a career in broadcasting. Although he spends a lot of time around the TD Garden these days as a Celtics analyst for NBC Sports, playing this weekend with the Ball Hogs for the Ice Cube-backed league will be the first time in a long time that many local fans will have seen Scalabrine shoot around in Boston.
Brian Scalabrine on bringing BIG3 to Boston
“I’m not going to lie, I want to put on a great show for the people that see me there everyday,” Scalabrine tells Metro. “I’ve been working real hard to play well in Boston.”
Unlike the NBA, BIG3 is all about three-on-three basketball, which Scalabrine admits is “very different” from the standard five-on-five game. However, the former Celtics star believes that this style of play is “ultra competitive” and a bit more akin to how he grew up playing the game.
“It’s very much mano a mano,” Scalabrine says. “You get a lot of opportunities where you’ve got to stop a guy one-on-one.”
The player-turned-analyst praises Ice Cube and the BIG3 brass for providing basketball stars another platform to show off their skills. Scalabrine believes that the league, now in its sophomore year, has a lot of potential for growth.
“As long as a guy like Ice Cube and his group are running it, that group knows how to fill an arena,” he says. “They know how to negotiate contracts. They know how to treat players. It’s a first-class league all the way.”
If you go:
Aug. 3, 7 p.m., TD Garden, 100 Legends Way, Boston, $15+, tdgarden.com
