Magic Gaming Advances to Lower Bracket Semifinals with Win Over 76ers GC

The Lead: In any sport, the best teams find ways to win and advance even on days where they’re not playing at their peak. That was the case for Magic Gaming on Friday night. After struggling to find their offensive rhythm and dropping a series to the Gen.G Tigers of Shanghai, Orlando responded by earning a scrappy victory over 76ers GC to advance to the lower bracket semifinals of the 2024 NBA 2K League 3v3 playoffs.

“That’s exactly what we did,” said Magic Gaming general manager and head coach Jonah Edwards. “We knew that we weren’t playing our best ball, so survive and advance was our mentality. That’s what we did … However, we’re not thrilled with the results from today. Top four isn’t what we set out to do this season. It’s to win a 2K League championship. We made our path significantly more challenging.”

With the triumph, Orlando guarantees a top-four finish in the 2KL postseason, thus ensuring it will leave with a minimum prize of $45,000.

Game 1: It’s not often that Magic Gaming drops a series opener, but that’s what happened against 76ers GC. Orlando’s offense went cold in a 21-14 defeat.

Philadelphia small forward Damon “DJ” Jones notched eight points and four rebounds, while point guard Andre “Dre” Marshall tallied seven points and three assists.

Magic Gaming point guard Joshua “unguardable” Hunter and small forward Julian “Jboolin” Manzanares each scored six.

 Game 2: When your team is searching for answers, sometimes you have to turn to your best player. Unguardable, who opted to switch builds prior to this contest, drained a game-winning 3-pointer to propel Orlando to a 22-20 win over Philadelphia.

Magic Gaming’s All-Star floor general recorded a contest-best 15 points.

“The inside-out playmaker (build) gives much better scoring around the rim,” said Edwards. “I thought it might give us the opportunity to get some free points in a series where we weren’t able to score the ball on the perimeter well. We were getting open shots, we were getting to our spots, but we weren’t able to knock them down effectively. Instead of beating our heads against a wall against a team that we can get a bunch of stops against, we thought let’s get Josh on a build where he can dunk it when he needs to. That’s what we did and it showed that it was helpful.”

 Game 3: It took until the third game of the series, but Orlando finally found its offensive groove against a staunch Philadelphia defense. Power forward Ashton “LowkeyGodlike” Agredano notched 11 points, four rebounds and three assists to lift Magic Gaming to a 22-12 triumph.

Jboolin scored seven, while unguardable tallied four points and six assists.

Game 4: The best way to fuel a struggling offense is through your defense. Orlando forced five Philadelphia turnovers in a 22-14 series-clinching triumph.

Unguardable fired off 13 points, while LowkeyGodlike added seven.

EARLIER IN THE NIGHT: Magic Gaming Falls to Gen.G in Upper Bracket Semifinals

Game 1: Throughout this 2KL 3v3 season, strong starts and Magic Gaming have been synonymous. That trend continued in the series opener as Orlando cruised to a 22-11 victory over Gen.G.

Magic Gaming point guard and league MVP candidate unguardable was sensational. He went a perfect 6-for-6 from the floor, including 4-for-4 from deep, on his way to a contest-best 16 points. Orlando opened the outing on a 7-0 run.

Game 2: Magic Gaming had their chances to pull off a thrilling comeback triumph, but instead came up just short in a 24-20 defeat to Gen.G.

Tigers point guard Jaiden “gallow” Frank poured in a game-high 17 points.

LowkeyGodlike led Orlando with 12 points. Unguardable added eight, but had three turnovers.

Game 3: Gallow’s torrid pace carried over into this one as he scored a series-best 21 points to push Gen.G past Magic Gaming 23-18. Gallow was a perfect 8-for-8 from the floor.

Unguardable posted 10 points for Orlando.

Game 4: Despite having multiple chances down the stretch to close out the contest, Magic Gaming was unable to convert and dropped the series with a 22-19 defeat.

Gen.G’s offense once again revolved around Gallow, who knocked down the game-winning 3-pointer and finished with 20 points.

UP NEXT: Magic Gaming will face Bucks Gaming on Saturday in the lower bracket semifinals at 3:45 p.m. ET. If they were to advance, they would then face the loser of Lakers Gaming and Gen.G in the lower bracket finals. The winner of that matchup would then advance to the championship match where it would take two straight series victories to leave with the 3v3 title.

“Of course, we’ll have to score the ball at a more effective rate,” said Edwards. “But it’s going to be more about the energy we bring towards the game, even in the first game versus Milwaukee.”

HOW TO WATCH: Fans can watch games live on the NBA 2K League’s Twitch and YouTube channels.