Magic Gaming Recap vs. Wizards District
May 19, 2018
Unfazed after falling behind by 18 in the first half, a resilient Magic Gaming squad rallied and had multiple chances to tie the game or take the lead late in the third quarter.
But, Wizards District Gaming’s dynamic duo of Johnathon “Demon JT” Fields and Austin “Boo Painter” Painter did enough damage throughout to hold off Magic Gaming, 70-65, on Saturday.
After the Wizards made 13 of their first 14 shots, the Magic started to find their own rhythm and on two separate occasions pulled within two. Emmanuel “UCMANNY” Cruz and Jorge “marley213s” Renteria, who dominated inside in the second half, combined to score 38 points. Christopher “KontruL” Cantrell, meanwhile, shook off a tough start and recorded his second double-double of the year with 12 points and 10 assists.
The Magic made some key adjustments on how they defended Demon JT after the Wizards jumped out to their big lead. The Wizards’ point guard and first round draft pick was spectacular early on and finished with 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field and 3-of-3 from 3-point range.
Where the Magic will look to improve as they prepare for next week’s contests against Knicks Gaming and Warriors Gaming Squad is in their rim protection and 3-point shooting. The Magic had just two blocks against the Wizards and shot just 5-of-14 from beyond the arc with UCMANNY (4-of-6) being the only Magic player to find any consistency from downtown.
Some of the Magic’s top plays from Saturday included a ferocious AND-1 reverse dunk by marley213s and a thunderous driving slam from Bilal “SUPREME PULLER” Almashni.