The NBA 2K League is entering Week 3 of its season, and while the campaign is still very young, we’re beginning to see some separation near the top of the standings.
Mavs Gaming, Warriors Gaming Squad and Raptors Uprising GC are the only three undefeated teams left in the league heading into this week’s action, and look poised to keep their winning ways going.
Here’s a quick look back at the week that was and what’s ahead in the 2K League.
You can check out the NBA 2K League every Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m. ET on Sportsnet ONE and Sportsnet NOW.
Uprising update
Raptors Uprising GC, the Toronto Raptors’ 2K League affiliate, put together yet another strong week as they went 2-0 and dropped only one game between their two best-of-three matches with Grizz Gaming and Hornets Venom GT.
Week 1’s 2K Player of the Week Kenneth “Kenny Got Work” Hailey continued his hot start to the season, putting up big numbers that included a 39-point outburst in the deciding Game 3 with Hornets Venom.
The success the Uprising have found early on can be credited to chemistry the team has developed with each other this season and many years beforehand.
Despite the fact Hailey and centre Gerald “Sick One” Knapp were the only two players that were retained from last season’s team, all the members of the Uprising have a shared history with one another dating back to the pre-2K League days.
“To be honest, we’ve been playing with each other since about 2K17 with at least one other person on the team. So we’ve all kinda got a real good feel for each other,” said Knapp over the phone. “Kenny and [Eric “TimelyCook” Donald], they won $250,000 together in 2K17. Me and [Maurice “ReeceMode” Flowers] competed in the same tournament. And then my brother’s the other player. So we all have a really unique chemistry together that other teams don’t have.”
Four matches isn’t much of a sample size, but the results speak for themselves as the familiarity with one another has apparently paid off early for the Uprising.
In particular, Knapp’s younger brother Jake, A.K.A. “Legit 973”, also got drafted by the Uprising for this season — a cool moment for the two siblings as a nine-year age gap has often seen the brothers separated, and now they’re working the same job together on the same team, no less.
“Even when we were at home and we were just playing around we never really played on the same team, and now that I’m actually playing with him it’s different to see him actually focusing and he’s just hungry,” said the older Knapp. “So it’s really cool to see him so motivated.”
That hunger and desire isn’t just limited to one member of this Uprising team, however. And, according to Knapp, beyond those important intangibles this squad has a special ace up its sleeve that the rest of the league can’t compete with.
“There’s 23 teams in the league and 22 of them are trying to just cheese the game, basically, and over-exploit the paint, and our team just plays basketball,” said Knapp. “We just take what the defence gives us. If it’s three-balls, if it’s dunks, we don’t abuse anything. We just play basketball.”
So far, this method has been working well for the Uprising and they’ll look to extend their winning streak to six this coming week with matchups with Season 1 champions Knicks Gaming Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m. ET and then a Thursday night affair with the 3-1 Hawks Talon GC, also at 7:00 p.m. ET.
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Around the League
Looking at the schedule for this coming week, the Uprising will have an opportunity to take sole possession of first place in the league if they finish perfect once again. This is because their fellow unbeatens, Mavs Gaming and Warriors Gaming Squad, only play one game each this week.
Mavs Gaming plays Wednesday against a pretty good Hornets Venom team that gave the Uprising a small scare last week, while Warriors Gaming Squad will face the lowly Lakers Gaming Tuesday night.
Additionally, in the first week of the season, Dhwan “ShiftyKaii” White of Chinese expansion club Gen.G Tigers impressed mightily but came back down to earth in Week 2, leaving the early MVP discussion very much up in the air.
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