Magic Gaming Drops 3v3 Seed Week Finale to Pistons GT

The Lead: 

Heading into 3v3 seed weeks, Magic Gaming’s goal was to build momentum heading into THE STEAL, the NBA 2K League’s final 3v3 tournament of the season. So, after rattling off four straight wins and achieving its mission, Orlando utilized the final pre-tournament contest for experimentation.

Magic Gaming rested standout point guard Joshua “Unguardable” Hunter for the series opener and inserted shooting guard Wesley “Gen” McNair into the rotation. They also switched Matthew “Matty” Grant from small forward to point guard, a position he played all the way back in 2KL season two.

While Orlando didn’t emerge with a victory in its final seeding series against Detroit, it’s still feeling extremely confident heading into the final two tournaments of the season.

Game 1: 

Magic Gaming center Robert “May” May continued to do work down low, racking up a team-high 10 points to go along with two rebounds, but it wasn’t enough in a 22-18 loss to Pistons GT.

Center Ramo Radoncic led Detroit with 10 points and two boards, while point guard Anthony “AntSZN” Costanzo added nine points and four assists.

“We knew coming into today that we wanted to get Gen a game,” said Magic Gaming General Manager and Head Coach Jonah Edwards. “Obviously since he’s been here, he hasn’t played for us (in 3v3) and if we were to somehow win THE STEAL and win a couple rounds of the playoffs, he would get less money than the rest of the team. So, from that perspective it was a simple decision of putting him in and making sure he could get a game that way he can get his fair cut of the money.” 

Game 2: 

After dropping the series opener, Orlando re-inserted unguardable back into the lineup and slid Matty over to shooting guard. And with their normal 3v3 trio back intact, Magic Gaming continued their torrid pace. Unguardable poured in a game-high 11 points, while Matty scored eight, including knocking down the game-sealing triple, to give Orlando a 21-17 victory over Detroit.

“We wanted to switch it up with double guards (from their traditional point guard and small forward lineup) with just the intent of practicing it,” said Edwards. “We’ve done it a lot in scrimmages and wanted to get real game experience with it. There was some value there.”

Game 3: 

Careful not to run too much of their offense and put many of their plays on film, Magic Gaming ran simple sets in the third contest of the series, and as a result their offense stalled at times in a 21-15 loss to Pistons GT.

AntSZN led Detroit with 11 points, while Ramo notched four points, two rebounds and four assists.

Matty put up nine points and unguardable accumulated six points and three assists for Orlando.

Game 4: 

Matty, a four-year 2KL veteran, came through in the clutch, knocking down a game-winning corner 3-pointer to give Magic Gaming a 23-20 triumph over Pistons GT and keep the series alive.

Matty finished with a game-high 11 points, May added six points and three rebounds, and unguardable scored six.

Game 5: 

Two of Magic Gaming’s 3v3 seed week streaks came to an end in this contest. Not only did Orlando lose its first game of this format, but it also snapped its perfect mark in game fives (2-1) during this two-week stretch.

Ramo poured in 10 points and small forward Ja’Ron “Bagmotion” Baylor added nine as Pistons GT took a 22-17 game five victory and the series.

Unguardable recorded nine points and three assists, while May racked up eight points, four rebounds, and three assists.

Quote to Note: 

 “I’ve been thrilled with the way the team has come together in 3v3. I think that we are clearly a team that can go out to Indianapolis and put together three or four series wins and be that team able to win THE STEAL and make the playoffs in 3v3 and get these guys some legitimate money. We’re confident going into that tournament in Indy in a couple weeks. We still have a lot to work on in between now and then. So, we’re going to be sharpening up what we’re working on.” – Edwards on the outlook of the team

“Definitely, (pleased with the 4-1 record in 3v3 seed weeks). Especially with how the start of the season went, we’ve probably doubled or tripled our points this week. Also, we won some game fives, which was something we definitely struggled with, especially before unguardable got here. So, being able to get game five wins was definitely nice.” – May on Magic Gaming’s performance in 3v3 seed week action

Up Next: 

Magic Gaming will have a bye week before taking a trip to Indianapolis for THE STEAL, the 2KL’s final 3v3 tournament of the season, and THE TICKET, the final 5v5 tourney. The winners in both conferences of both tournaments are granted postseason berths.

While game dates and times are not yet finalized, Magic Gaming will play Raptors Uprising GC at the start of both tournaments.

How to Watch: 

Fans can watch games live on the NBA 2K League’s Twitch and YouTube channels. Games will also be available on Dash Radio, eGG Network in Southeast Asia, Loco in India, and Sport1 in Europe.