The Ten-Minute Sprint episode 5 recap – the Mailbag with 3x3's experts

LOS ANGELES (USA) - Anticipation is rising for 3x3's spectacular World Tour Final in Jeddah and to raise the excitement our signature one-two punch have answered your questions in a special mailbag edition.

In the latest episode of FIBA 3x3's new online show The Ten-Minute Sprint, Kyle Montgomery aka 'the voice of 3x3' and Corey 'Homicide' Williams begin the show with the toughest of questions - Liman or Riga? 

 
You can also listen to the 5th episode of "The Ten-Minute Sprint" on Soundcloud & Spotify.

The straight shooters naturally had different selections over 3x3’s hottest teams who split the four Masters during the regular season.

 

Having previously copped his co-host lapping up successfully picking Riga to win the Doha Masters, Williams still couldn't believe world No.1 Liman lost that unbelievable final but believed the Serbs would bounce back with a "vengeance" in 3x3's showpiece event.

Sticking with his successful formula, Montgomery said it was "crazy" to go against the world No.2. "They won last month in Doha and also last year at the Jeddah Masters,” he said. "Riga has a 9-4 head to head record over Liman and knocked them out of the last two World Tour Finals.

"They are versatile and hungry having never won a World Tour Final."

Then a miracle happened - the dueling duo actually agreed with each other! They both believed a Dusan Bulut-less Novi Sad would not three-peat the World Tour Final.

"It's like the Lakers without LeBron. Bulut makes the key plays," Williams said. "Other guys have to step up."

Having watched Novi Sad win 4 out of 5 titles without Bulut, Montgomery was not writing off the champs just yet. "Can't count them out. They've still got juice," he said. "Dejan Majstorovic has won MVPs without Bulut. But 2020 has not been their year."  

 
Which underdog team did they believe could make a deep run? Montgomery has been on the Utena Uniclub bandwagon ever since falling in love with them during the Debrecen Masters.

"They are one of the three teams who have beaten Riga this season," he said. "They are built to win and Ignas Vaitkus is a guy you can build around."

 

The feisty Williams took exception to our power rankings, where we had Hungary Masters runners-up Ub 10th. - his tip to potentially upset higher ranked teams.

Just as the temperature lifted, it was time to pivot to a less heated topic. Which 3x3 player's game is similar to theirs? Williams, a former MVP in Australia's NBL, nominated Liman star Stefan Stojacic, who he described as "no-nonsense". 

Montgomery, ever the entertainer, said he liked to sauce opponents, so naturally Filipino ballers Joshua Munzon and RJ Abarrientos came to mind.

Speaking of Munzon, he was Williams' pick as the 3x3 player who could make it in the NBA, while Montgomery believed sweet-shooting Stojacic had the skillset to succeed.

 

Having assured us his NBA2K skills had improved since he famously played the Dutch U23 team two years ago, Montgomery finished the episode by recounting his favorite World Tour Finals.

Unsurprising, he had the 2017 Final capped off by Bogdan Dragovic's insane game-winner top of the list but reserved love for 2016 - his debut behind the mic.  

 

"Nothing will be better than that (2017)," he said. "But 2016 had sick dunks from Team Chicago with (now NBA player) Alfonzo McKinnie and the best ever crossover from Dragan Bjelica. (His victim) looked like he got shot in the foot."

Still want more entertainment from our experts?

They'll be back next week previewing the biggest prize on the World Tour.

FIBA