A new tournament means a fresh slate for all of our NBA 2K League franchises! Group Play for the Coinbase 3v3 Switch Open tipped off this week following a fantastic week in-person in Washington D.C. But with a new week comes a new set of takeaways, so let’s get into five of them from this past week of games.
Pacers Gaming has ARRIVED
We should have known that the reigning SWITCH OPEN champions were going to show out to defend their title and boy, did they ever. 4-0 on the week, a league-best 4.9 point differential, and a 3v3 lineup that I’m not sure anyone expected to dominate. Chess at guard, JaySnags at lock, and BigReign at PF has been one of the surprises of the year so far. We figured Jaysnags would be a star…but at PF, the position he was drafted to play. We all figured we’d see Greenlight after he was picked in the top 10, but instead we’re seeing Chess finally step into a star role in the NBA 2K League after spending two seasons relegated to a role player. And finally, shoutout to BigReign. second year pro, not a lot of expectations on him heading into this season and he’s taken a huge leap this year. 2.3 RPG while shooting 66.3% from 3, he’s been one of the best PFs in 3v3 so far this season. We’ll see if they get a chance of playing in person to repeat, but so far so good in Indiana.
NBL Oz Gaming Stays Hot
While they did most of their work in the lower bracket during the SLAM OPEN, NBL Oz really impressed this week to open things up. Jyden took things to another level, he’s up to 11.4 ppg on 82.8 TS% cementing himself as one of the best 3V3 guards in the world. His leadership when they are down is apparent, he’s taken some major strides after struggling down the stretch for NetsGC last season. LawRich and DjayTooCOld deserve some love too, an excellent duo deservedly in the conversation for best defensive combo in the league so far this season. They went 3-1 to open up group play with their only loss coming from Bucks Gaming in a thrilling 5 game series. They fell in Game 5 by just three points – it was a true battle of the elite. This team should be considered one of the five best in the league and a true threat to win the entire tournament.
76ers GC Down Bad
Whenever 76ersGC goes through a stretch like this, it’s always a surprise. Their worst start to a season since their 0-7 start to the 2020 season, they missed out on in-person play for the first time in team history during the SLAM OPEN and the SWITCH OPEN hasn’t gone much better. An 0-4 week was a shock. Multiple lineup changes, bad late game execution, it certainly doesn’t seem like a Jeff Terrell team. But, like the previous 0-7 start, I still fully expect this Philly team to figure it out like they did in 2020 when they closed the season 7-2. Only issue was they missed out on the playoffs due to that slow start. If they still want to make the 3v3 playoffs, they have to get hot next week, or it’s right to the STEAL OPEN for them.
Eye on the Playoffs
We’re starting to get to that time of year again. To update everyone on the playoff rules for this season, it’ll be the 10 best 2KL teams by points, two community teams, and two teams from the STEAL OPEN for a total of 14 teams. As of now, our top 10 is Pistons GT, T-Wolves Gaming, Knicks Gaming, Hawks Talon GC, Nets GC, NBL Oz Gaming, Bucks Gaming, CLTX Gaming, Wizards DG, and DUX Infinitos. So many talented teams in STEAL territory at this point sets us up for an incredible bracket round for the SWITCH OPEN. Keep an eye on this next week as these games heat up.
Closed Qualifier Tips Off Monday
We’ve seen a lot of questions in our chat about the amatuer teams, wondering when we are going to see them again and you are all in luck! Tox and BFW will be live on Monday night covering the entire closed qualifier. All teams are back as they fight to get a top 7 seed and a spot in the SWITCH OPEN bracket round. We saw Glo Navy dominate the qualifer as a nice prelim to their incredible run in the Slam in District E. Fair to wonder if that domination will continue. Should also be interesting to watch how BUllet and G1 fare. A new lineup coming in, BigPerm and LoudSent coming in to assist the star guard as they try to get over the hump and into in-person play.
