Magic Gaming Edged by Gen.G Despite Another Brilliant Performance From Unguardable

The Lead

Gen.G’s Jaiden “OTTR” Frank and Magic Gaming’s Joshua “unguardable” Hunter made it look obvious on Thursday why they were the No. 1 and No. 5 overall picks, respectively, in the 2022 NBA 2K League Draft. Both showed out in their first ever clash as pros. Ultimately, though, it was the Tigers of Shanghai’s defense in the final couple minutes that helped them pull out a 71-64 victory.

Top Performers

For Gen.G, OTTR exploded for 33 points to go along with six assists, while his backcourt mate Darjean “ReturnOfDJ” Henderson posted 24 points and five dimes. For Orlando, unguardable, playing in his second 5v5 game with his new squad, recorded 25 points and 13 assists, while Robert “May” May notched his second straight double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds and Justin “Snubby” Stemerman, who continues to look comfortable at power forward, had 10 points and two boards.

Key Stretch

Gen.G closed the contest on a 7-0 run after Matthew “Matty” Grant had tied it up with a layup with 1:11 left. OTTR buried go-ahead jumper with 51 seconds remaining and then following two misses by unguardable, ReturnOfDJ sank a pair of game-sealing free throws with 8.4 ticks left. The Tigers outscored the Magic by eight in the final frame.

Key Stats

Gen.G took 13 more 3-pointers than the Magic and made seven more. Unguardable knocked down seven of Orlando’s eight triples, while OTTR hit nine of Gen.G’s 15 threes.

Quotes of the Night

“It’s nice seeing him play well and everything. It’s obviously nice seeing him score and fill up the stat sheet and all that stuff. The thing I’m most proud of from Josh is his ability to control the game. He’s speaking fluently on offense. He’s literally calling everything that we are doing. Most of it is Josh. It’s not easy for a rookie, especially (one) new to the position. I know he’s not new to it as a player, but new to it in the 2K League. This is a tough position to play. It’s a tough role to be in. He’s coming to a team that frankly was in last place when he got here. This whole thing has been challenging for him. He’s just rolled with the punches, and I think tonight is a testament to him. He really is a good facilitator, a playmaker and decision maker – not just a pure shooter and scorer that initially he was pegged to be, which is really impressive.” – Magic Gaming General Manager and Head Coach Jonah Edwards on unguardable

“Going into this week playing two of the toughest teams in the whole league, most people would just say we would just get blown out twice, go 0-and-two. I think we showed we could have easily gone two-and-0. Even just to get a split versus these two teams is really good for us, and it shows a lot of confidence that if we are able to beat these really good teams (and) the competition we have to play in THE TICKET will be a little bit weaker, it should be more favorable for us. I think those teams are going to see these games that we played against these good teams and (it will) start to open their eyes a little bit, especially because we have a whole new team now.” – Snubby

Up Next

Magic Gaming will use next week’s games to prepare for THE TICKET. Their first of three contests will be against Celtics Crossover Gaming on Tuesday at 9 p.m. Boston, most recently, got pummeled by Knicks Gaming on Wednesday. Sheriff “FT” Cruz led the C’s in that game with 15 points, while Trey “TreyDollaz” Wright chipped in with 13 points and Jhade “Colt” Black notched a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Orlando’s other two seed week opponents will be DUX Infinitos and Bucks Gaming.