Magic Gaming Advances to SWITCH OPEN Grand Finals With Win Over Lakers Gaming

The Lead: A few weeks ago in the SLAM OPEN, the first 3v3 tournament of the season, Magic Gaming lost in the upper-bracket finals to Lakers Gaming, which forced them to exhaust some extra energy in their journey to the grand finals. This time around, in the SWITCH OPEN, that won’t be the case, as now it will be L.A. having to try and do that following Orlando’s thrilling 3-2 series victory on Saturday afternoon.

Game 1: Magic Gaming has proven time and time again this season that they can wear down an opponent even when playing from behind. That was the case in the opener, as Orlando overcame an 11-6 deficit to beat Lakers Gaming 21-19.

Ashton “LowkeyGodlike” Agredano, arguably the best outside shooting big man in the game, sealed the victory with a triple from the right wing off a feed from Joshua “unguardable” Hunter.

LowkeyGodlike led the way with nine points, while unguardable finished with eight points and five assists.

Game 2: Among the many reasons Magic Gaming has been so good this season is their balance. Unlike many of the other 2KL teams, who rely on their point guard to dominate offensively, all three of Orlando’s players can get hot in any given stretch.

That was glaring in Game 2, as unguardable recorded 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting, Julian “Jboolin” Manzanares posted seven points on 3-of-3 shooting, and LowkeyGodlike had six points on 3-of-4 shooting in Magic Gaming’s 23-15 victory.

Dhwan “ShiftyKaii” White paced L.A. with 11 points.

Game 3: You knew at some point ShiftyKaii, the frontrunner for the MVP award, would heat up. That occurred in Game 3, as the electric guard erupted for 17 points on perfect 7-of-7 shooting to lead the Lakers to a 21-15 win.

The last of his three 3-pointers was from 29 feet out and ended the game.

Unguardable led the Magic with nine points, while LowkeyGodlike had four points, two rebounds and three assists.

Game 4: The theme from Game 3 carried over to Game 4. ShiftyKaii erupted for 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting in L.A.’s 21-11 victory. Again, it was a 3-pointer from him that sealed it.

Orlando only got seven shots up total, making five of them. It also knocked down just one 3-pointer, which is rarely enough in 3v3 action.

Game 5: In late December, Magic Gaming made a big trade. Among the pieces they got in return was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 2KL Draft. With that selection, they selected JBoolin, the best lock in the pool.

Besides being a terror on defense, the Kissimmee, Florida native is capable of stepping up offensively in big games. And that he did in this decisive Game 5, as his 14 points helped Magic Gaming advance to the SWITCH OPEN grand finals with a 22-11 victory.

He also helped limit ShiftyKaii to just seven points on four shot attempts.

Quote to Note: “He just had the game of his life. We didn’t go into it expecting it to go like that. We know we have three great offensive players, so it could come from anybody. And it just so happened the ball was in his hands, and he made plays. He made big plays in big moments.” – unguardable on Jboolin

Up Next: Magic Gaming now awaits the team that emerges from the lower bracket to play them in the grand finals later on Saturday evening. Whichever team that is will have to win two best-of-five series against Orlando with the Magic currently undefeated in bracket play (double-loss elimination).

How to Watch: Fans can watch games live on the NBA 2K League’s Twitch and YouTube channels.