Magic Gaming Falls to 76ers GC in THE TIPOFF Semifinals

A date to circle on your calendar is June 2, which is when Magic Gaming and 76ers GC will square off in regular season action. Based on the way the five games between these two squads went in THE TIPOFF, it’s going to be a showdown you don’t want to miss. After splitting their two meetings in the group stage, their semifinal best-of-three series went the distance, with Philadelphia prevailing.

Game 1: Brendan “Reizey” Hill hit a game-tying 3-pointer with 11.1 seconds remaining, but his 76ers GC point guard counterpart, Andre “Dre” Marshall, responded with a go-ahead straightaway jumper with 1.9 ticks on the clock to lift Philadelphia to a 55-53 victory.

Reizey, who scored 25 points, had a chance to send the game into overtime, but his leaner from the left corner fell short.

Robert “May” May, who recorded a double-double with 14 points and 18 rebounds, made a layup with 1:14 left and Josue “FutureClutch” Acosta Gomez, the hero in Orlando’s closeout win over Pistons GT in the quarterfinals, slammed home an alley-oop dunk on the Magic’s next possession to tie the game. Former league MVP Dayne “OneWildWalnut” Downey had an AND-1 to put the 76ers back in front prior to Reizey and Dre’s final shots.

Both teams struggled from 3-point distance. The Magic made five of their 18 attempts, while the Sixers connected on seven of their 20 tries.

Dre, the fourth overall pick in the 2021 NBA 2K League Draft, scored a game-high 29 points, while OneWildWalnut posted 12 points and 18 rebounds.

Game 2: Several blockbuster trades were made in the NBA 2K League this past offseason. One of them involved Magic Gaming, which acquired Justin “Snubby” Stemerman from Hornets Venom GT for a 2021 first round draft pick. Orlando relied on him late in their 59-53 Game 2 victory.

He knocked down a pair of 3-pointers down the stretch, including one with the shot clock about to expire with 2:42 remaining that extended Orlando’s lead to 11.

Another star of this contest was FutureClutch, whose on-ball defense against Dre was superb. Philly’s normally-prolific scorer was held to just 18 points on 7-of-18 shooting from the field.

Daniel “DT” Tlais, who finished with 13 points, made a big 3-pointer in the closing moments of the third quarter after May gathered an offensive rebound and kicked the ball out to him for one of his five assists. Reizey led all scorers with 20 points.

Game 3: Even in a series when defense was king, it wasn’t much of a surprise that the decisive Game 3 featured a duel between two of the elite point guards in the league.

Reizey erupted for 39 points, making 15 of his 28 shots, but it wasn’t enough as Philly, which got 33 points from Dre and 21 from Robert “Caliraq” Ruiz, put together a strong fourth quarter to earn a 75-62 win.

The 3-point line heavily favored Philly, which made 15 of their 26 tries from beyond the arc. Dre hit seven of them, Caliraq drilled five triples and Elijah “UnderratedGoat” Spears, 76ers GC’s third round draft pick in 2021, connected on two threes.

May had another double-digit rebound game with 12 of them.

Quotes of the Night

“Obviously, I think it helps getting a couple wins under our belt early, get our feet a little wet and understand that we can be a competitive team. It’s funny, I don’t even think we needed the games to know this, though. I think that in scrimmages and just being around the group. We just have a group of guys that are all confident. I don’t think the confidence is ever wavering in any individual. That’s the impressive part about this group. We are going to get better as the season goes on.” – Magic Gaming General Manager and Head Coach Jonah Edwards

“This year, six of us as players, Jonah and everyone else involved in this, we are way more together. We don’t let adversity, especially mid-game, just carry over plays. I think that’s one of our biggest adjustments from last year. We’re also on the same page a lot, especially our defense. We all just have the same idea of what our defense should look like.” – May

Up Next

Magic Gaming’s regular season begins on Wednesday, May 26 when they take on NetsGC starting at 9 p.m. Then on Friday, May 28, they will face off against the Gen.G Tigers beginning at 7 p.m. Brooklyn and Gen.G each went 2-2 in their respective groups during the opening round of THE TIPOFF. Neither advanced. Regular season matchups will be played in a two-game format this year.