T-Wolves Gaming was once 3-6, if you’ll believe it. They’ll now be playing for an NBA 2K League championship on August 3.
The expansion team won its 10th and 11th straight regular season and playoff games with a sweep of No. 8 seed Warriors Gaming Squad in the first semifinals series of Friday night to earn a place in the league’s second-ever finals next week.
The upstart T-Wolves struck early in game one, taking a commanding 14-point lead into halftime on the strength of the BearDaBeast, Turnupdefense and Jojo trio. Minnesota would not relinquish the lead the rest of the way, or even let Warriors Gaming get within single-digits, in the 71-53 win.
T-Wolves point guard BearDaBeast was dubbed player of the game with a 24-point, 15-assist appearance. The 11th overall pick in this year’s entry draft finished 9-of-16 from the field, including a 5-for-7 performance from beyond the arc.
Lockdown defender Turnupdefense was able to slice through the Warriors’ defense, going for 22 points and hitting half of his eight 3-point attempts. Jojo added 16 points and 6 rebounds while going a perfect 7-for-7 on the game.
Game two was a tighter affair to start, but a Minnesota run late in the first half gave the T-Wolves another double-digit halftime advantage, this time by 10 points.
The hottest team in the league refused to cool off, not allowing the Warriors to close the gap, eventually completing the sweep with a 68-46 win.
Turnupdefense again diced the Warriors normally stellar defense with 20 points on 8-for-9 shooting, and plucked 6 steals for good measure.
Lightning rod BearDaBeast added 10 points and 13 assists with 4 steals of his own, despite committing 9 turnovers in the contest. Jojo finished the series missing just one shot, going for 17 points and 6 rebounds on 7-for-8 shooting in the clincher.
JMoneyRep817 chipped in 15 points and 4 steals of his own.
The Warriors committed a total of 23 turnovers in the only elimination game they’ve lost all season. Type and Jin were the leading scorers for the team in the second game, adding 16 and 14, respectively. Type also snagged 8 rebounds and 5 steals.
The Turn and Ticket champions will take home $60,000 of the $720,000 playoffs prize purse for their efforts. They took down regular-season champs Blazer5 Gaming in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
The T-Wolves took down Kings Guard Gaming in the first round.
