Magic Gaming Unable to Hold off Cavs Legion GC

ORLANDO – In the first half of Magic Gaming’s matchup with Cavs Legion GC, Orlando appeared to have all the momentum.

Magic Gaming was playing suffocating defense, executing efficient offense, and they even had a few bounces go their way. But all of that momentum evaporated in an instant, or in this case a crash.

An hour-long delay due to a server crash coupled with poor second-half defense sucked the wind out of Magic Gaming’s sails in a 58-52 loss to Cavs Legion GC on Thursday night. The defeat eliminated Orlando from qualifying for TIPOFF bracket play.

“They adjusted defensively,” said Magic Gaming general manager and head coach Jonah Edwards. “I guess it helps when you have an hour to do so. They played a lot of good defense and scored some big shots. We turned it over a couple of times down the stretch, we weren’t able to score, and they were able to close us out.”

It was a wild turn for a Magic Gaming team that was firing on all cylinders in the first half. Small forward Julian “Jboolin” Manzanares drained a 66-foot heave from behind Orlando’s own 3-point line to close out the first quarter. That triple spawned a 17-4 Magic Gaming first-half run that allowed them to take a 15-point lead into halftime.

“We did a good job defensively, especially in that second quarter,” said Edwards. “That gave us that 15-point lead heading into halftime. As the game went on, they adjusted.”
However, amidst that run, the game crashed and caused an hour-long delay. Orlando was not the same squad it was prior to the adversity, while Cleveland came out full steam ahead.
“I’m certainly not one to blame the circumstances for a loss,” said Edwards. “But this was probably the most extreme set of circumstances that I’ve experienced in my seven years of coaching in this league. It’s really hard to rally when you have something like that going on.”
Cleveland would go on to outscore Orlando 38-17 in the second half.
Point guard Antoine “Antoine” Featherstone led Cavs Legion GC with 24 points.
Meanwhile, center Ashton “LowkeyGodlike” Agredano finished with team highs in points (17) and rebounds (11) for Magic Gaming. Point guard Joshua “unguardable” Hunter and Darjean “ReturnOfDJ” Henderson each scored 11.

UP NEXT: Magic Gaming returns to TIPOFF group play action on Friday when they go head-to-head with Raptors Uprising GC at 6 p.m. ET.

HOW TO WATCH: Fans can watch games live on the NBA 2K League’s Twitch and YouTube channels.