THE TURN Recap: MavsGG finishes Top 8 in Vegas

LAS VEGAS — Entering THE TURN as the No. 2 seed, Mavs Gaming placed top eight in the tournament after defeating Knicks Gaming, 85-70, in the first round and losing to Warriors Gaming, 64-60, in the second.

With this placement, MavsGG brought home $7,200 and still sits as the first place team in the league at an unblemished 7-0. Tournament wins or losses do not impact teams’ regular season records, so each team remains in its same pre-tournament ranking.

Round One

With a perfect 7-0 record through the first four weeks of the regular season, the team earned an automatic place in the first round of bracket play. Our tournament play began on Friday evening with the Knicks, who won in deciding fashion over Lakers Gaming the night before.  The Mavs opted to ban the Pure Lockdown Defender at the shooting guard position, so in return the Knicks banned Mo’s Pure Sharpshooter at the two.

Knicks lead 35-34 coming out of halftime, but that would prove to be their only lead.

Mavs Gaming outscored them 52-36 in the final half of the game. The entire team scored in double figures for the game, and both PeteBeBallin (13 points, 14 rebounds) and Dimez (21 points, 11 assists) earned double-doubles giving the team big momentum going into the quarterfinals.

The @NBA2KLeague introduced a ban system that is traditional to Esports. How did our team respond to the lineup changes?

Take a look back at our quarter final matchup against the defending champs.#BallAsOne | #THETURN pic.twitter.com/XznE5hbDOz

— Mavs Gaming (@MavsGG) May 13, 2019

Quarterfinals

The next day, we faced a Warriors team that won a close game over Heat Check Gaming, 56-54. Knowing how critical Jin’s skill is in the Warriors offensive system, the Dallas team chose to take his favorite build slashing stretch four out of options, so the California team took another power forward option off of the board, eliminating the sharpshooting rim protector.

Holding a 6-point lead going into halftime, MavsGG looked to continue the momentum into the final half, but as Gradient began to hit his shots, the Warriors found their rhythm. They would outscore Mavs Gaming 22-9 in the third quarter, and ultimately take the game despite a late surge from the Mavs. They would win 64-60 and end MavsGG’s tournament run.

📹 Here are our top plays from our game against Warriors Gaming at #THETURN.#BallAsOne pic.twitter.com/unR7IYfkQv

— Mavs Gaming (@MavsGG) May 14, 2019

After a bye week in Week 5, Mavs Gaming is back in action Wednesday, May 22 against the Bucks and the Pistons in the 2K League Studios in New York.