1,225. That’s how many 3v3 games we played as a league in it’s first year of existence. Not all were great, but at it’s best, 3v3 proved to be an entertaining product that had a little something for everyone. It’s fine to hope that it improves overtime, but the league has always done a good job of evolving to what’s needed. But, as 1st seasons go, I’d say it was a success. Let’s knock out 3 final topics to close out the 3v3 season.

1. Pistons GT Has Their Defining Moment

Pistons GT is an incredibly interesting franchise. They have had some of the best players in the league on their team, but also a few of the worst. Their peaks have been as high as you can go, but their valleys have been some of the lowest. Heck, Coach Duone won Coach of the Year in Season 1 despite the team having a negative point differential. If that’s not the very essence of Pistons GT, I don’t know what is. This 3v3 season very much represented their franchise as a whole. Some very impressive highs and some very disappointing lows. They got swept out of the 1st round of the Slam Open, only to respond and make the Switch Open Finals. They trade Radiant right after that in a move that could’ve tanked the season, but instead Ant leads them to a freaking title. It’s very Pistons GT. Regardless, here they stand, the first team to win a 3v3 title. Like Knicks Gaming, we’ll look back on this team forever, as the first winner of a mode that is going to become a staples this league for years to come. Ramo gets his defining moment, as one of the iconic players in league history and now a well decorated one. Ant receives his vindication after being traded twice this season, giving the Pistons the long-term answer at PG they’ve always searched for. BagMotion completes a beautiful journey, from leaving to team to see the birth of his daughter, to winning a title for her on the biggest stage. Detroit is a great champion, one we will look back on kindly over the years.

2. Wizards DG Falls Just Short

This Wizards DG roster finishing 2nd is nothing to be ashamed of. Kapp is good, but this week made his limitations clear, he’s not exactly Dre out there with his handle. While Dayfri playing lock and Awkward playing more off-ball defense showed off their incredible versatility, they never played the same brand of 3v3 aas everyone else. Heck, it worked all the way up to the Finals, but it just feel flat at the end. Getting 2nd hurts, especially for a franchise that has won so much. Still, you have to wonder if any of this will carry over to 5v5. Will Kapp have any confidence issues after falling short? Will Brich or Newdini be cold after not playing on stage for a whole week? Do they have enough offense even if everyone is playing at their best? So many questions stand in the way of this Wizards DG team and a title. The good news is that no team is better at finding the answers they need in the biggest moments. But weirdly enough, for the 2nd time this season in a Finals, they didn’t have it.

3. 3v3 Comes To A Close

3v3 is here to stay. A lot of 5v5 purists came into the season already convinced that it was going to be a waster of time. Many of them were proven wrong, but it’s going to be hard to flip everyone. It’s a very different game mode than 5v5. The pace, the spacing, the lack of defense at times, the pure mount of games played, it’s just all very different. I think 3v3 was at it’s best this season when there were real stakes. Too many tiny individual games that were a bit meaningless in the long run. 1225 games is an incredible number, with 24 teams, that means that teams played an average of 51 games. That’s a lot of games! Heck, some players and teams have played over 80 3v3 games this year. The only other complaint I’d have is that the builds were little too slow. I think making the games even faster paced and dynamic would add some excitement and that starts with the player builds and archetypes. Outside of that, I enjoyed 3v3 this season much more than I thought I would. I had some doubts, but all in all, 3v3 lived up the hype.