Magic Gaming Advances to On-Stage Bracket Play With Sweep Over Heat Check Gaming

ORLANDO – Magic Gaming acquired Jarvis “Simptoms” Thompson during the offseason believing his skills as an off-ball guard would catapult this team to the next level in 5v5.

Now three weeks in, he has indeed done that – with his best performance to date coming Friday night in Orlando’s series sweep in remote bracket play over Heat Check Gaming to advance to on-stage bracket play next week in Washington, D.C.

Game 1: Magic Gaming 74, Heat Check Gaming 65

Simptoms erupted for 28 points and his pair of 3-pointers in the final minute-plus helped seal Magic’s Gaming’s 74-65 Game 1 victory.

Orlando up five at the time, Simptoms knocked down the first of those two clutch threes with 1:16 left after Matthew “Matty” Grant found him as the shot clock was winding down.

The very next trip down the floor, the sharpshooter delivered again from deep – this time on the other side of the court and off a feed from Joshua “unguardable” Hunter.

“Taking off down the stretch, we knew we had to put our feet on their necks and they were going to lay down, and we did that,” Simptoms said.

Magic Gaming withstood a 34-point outing from Kyjuan “Ky” Johnson. Only he and center Kennedy “sawc” Tauala reached double figures in scoring for Miami.

Meanwhile, four Orlando players scored in double digits, including Simptoms, unguardable (16), Matty (12), and Robert “May” May (11). Unguardable also dished out 13 assists.

The Magic accumulated 21 dimes, 10 more than the Heat, and 14 rebounds, four more than Miami. Orlando led 18-13 through the first quarter, 35-33 at halftime, and 52-47 after the third.

“Our composure was an extremely important aspect of winning tonight,” May said. “We never lost control of that…They went on a few runs. We came in knowing they were capable of that, so it didn’t really surprise us when they would go on those – and I think we just reacted well to those.”

Game 2: Magic Gaming 68, Heat Check Gaming 55

Once again, the Heat had little to no answers for Simptoms, who posted 22 points in Orlando’s series-clinching 68-55 win.

Unlike the opener, though, the Magic didn’t need anyone to make “clutch” baskets down the stretch, as they seized control late in the second quarter and led by double figures much of the second half.

“In general, I think we try to really lock in in the final two minutes at the end of every quarter,” May said. “Those plays are typically really crucial to winning 2K games and just basketball in general. I feel that was a big factor to us winning tonight. We closed quarters really well.”

Unguardable, per usual, had another strong game with 25 points and seven assists. May pulled down 10 rebounds to go along with handing out five dimes and scoring three points. Matty and Devin “Scoreo” Lawrence finished with 10 and eight points, respectively.

Ky, like Game 1, was the only Miami player to get into a rhythm. He scored 24 points on 10-for-14 shooting. The rest of the team combined to make just nine of their 25 shot attempts.

“We knew over the past six games that we already played our defense wasn’t nearly as strong as it could be,” Simptoms said. “We knew we had to work on it a lot going into this series tonight – and we did just that and it showed tremendously.”