Week 3 Recap: Warriors Gaming Squad Sails into Bye Week
May 27, 2020
Heading into a bye in week four, Warriors Gaming Squad is bound for two big week five matchups with five wins already in the books. For now, however, let’s take a look back at the quick and efficient slate that was week three, featuring a dominant series win over Lakers Gaming.
LakeShow, LakeSweep
WGS’ lone matchup of week three came early in the week, on Tuesday, May 19. The team ceded an early lead in game one after starting out up 23-13, but shut the door in the fourth quarter to finish off a 69-60 win. CB13 and Bsmoove combined for an impressive 49 points in the backcourt, but their performance merely foreshadowed game two’s result, where WGS obliterated the Lakers 105-47 to complete the sweep. CB13 scored a career-high 53 points (adding, in a doubly impressive performance, 10 assists and just one turnover) and all five starters finished with double-digit scoring. The 105 points in a regulation game was the second-highest total in league history, and the 58-point margin of victory was the highest this season.
Good News Gaming Squad
🛡️Defense🛡️ and Offense, @malikleisinger and @CB13 show how to take it Coast to Coast in this week's Play of the Game presented by @TanduayUSA! pic.twitter.com/py8cKoWfE1
— Warriors Gaming (@WarriorsGaming) May 22, 2020
The play of the game, presented by Tanduay, pretty much sums up the Lakers series: stifling defense into instant offense. Above, a block from Slaughter went the other way for a halftime-beating slam from CB13. WGS scored 41 points in transition in game two, falling just six points shy of the Lakers’ total output for the game.
Assistant coach Mike Brown gave a nice interview on the broadcast about his family’s friendship with WGS Head Coach Mike Newton, detailed by Anthony Slater at The Athletic:
Warriors coach Mike Brown joined the @NBA2KLeague broadcast 🔊⬆️pic.twitter.com/VfVTfW2OJr
— Gaming on NBC Sports Bay Area (@NBCSBAgaming) May 20, 2020
The San Francisco Chronicle, meanwhile, profiled sixth man Matty’s journey from Division I-point guard to digital point guard. The second-year player, who started at point guard for Pacers Gaming in the playoffs last season, once lead Detroit Mercy with 15 points in a loss to eventual national champions University of Connecticut in—you cannot make this stuff up—the “2K Sports Classic” in November 2013.
Two Matters of Chance
Slaughter has been cleaning the glass at a record-breaking pace lately. The Ohio native pulled down 26 rebounds, second-most in NBA 2K League history, in week two, and is averaging just under 22 rebounds per game in the team’s last three series. Let’s take a look at a matter of chance involving those 22 rebounds—or, really, two matters of chance.
Warriors Gaming Squad drafted 2 players, Slaughter and Matty, on February 22, or 2/22/2020.
The two players (who both wore #0 in their combined 2 prior seasons) had combined to start 22 games across the league’s first 2 seasons. Slaughter got back into the league through one of this offseason’s team tournaments, from which 22 players were added to the draft pool. Of the 68 picks in the draft, 22 were veterans, comprising 2 players from season one and 20 vets from season two. Slaughter, of course, was selected at 20 overall in 2020 and proceeded to set some records in averaging 22 rebounds per game in WGS’ sweep of 76ers GC in week 2 (one of 2 sweeps that week).
Oh, any by the way. The two WGS Invitational draft pool nominations, CantGuardRob and Bash, were selected at picks 15 and 17 this year, which adds up to 32. Guess who went No. 32 in the 2018 draft? That’s right, Slaughter.