Hawks Talon GC Dominated by Mavs Gaming in 2KL Season Opener

Recapping Hawks Talon Gaming Club’s first series of the season.

The Hawks Talon Gaming Club suffered a sweeping loss to Mavs Gaming in the season opener of the third season of the NBA 2K League on Tuesday night. The Hawks were blown out in both games of the best of three series, losing 72-55 in game one and 73-49 in game two.

“They were the better team. They were a little bit more composed than us and we got a little bit away from our game plan.” Said Head Coach Wesley Acuff.

BP scored a franchise-best in points when he posted 39 in the second game, but it wasn’t enough to edge the team anywhere near victory. The Hawks team that was completely built around the ball-dominant point guard showed no signs of on-court chemistry and the offense was completely shut down by the lockdown defense the Mavs applied.

“I think it’s no secret the way our offense is set up you pretty much watch them lock in on BP. Trying to adjust to that and find the open man, we kind of forced a few passes that we shouldn’t have forced and didn’t execute the way that we had been preparing so it was a moment where we got away from our original game plan a little bit and we let them force us into playing their game.” Acuff said.

Despite the lack of ball movement from the Hawks offense, the team’s center, Lee, was able to be productive on both ends of the court in game one. He posted 10 points, 17 rebounds, five assists, and three blocks. He also was shooting a fairly efficient 62.5% from the field. Both guards BP and Kel scored in double digits as well. The team collected a combined 20 rebounds and 14 assists.

“It’s just really about us getting chemistry together and getting comfortable with each other’s play style and habits out there.” Acuff said.

However, the second game showed a completely different story. Lee had zero shot attempts the second go around compared to his eight attempts in game one. The same pattern for Kel, who had a successful 19 point, 80 percent FG accuracy game one but was reduced to merely four points on 33 percent shooting in game two.

BP was the only player to score in double digits, or pretty much at all. The Mavs were efficient in double-teaming Lee anytime he handled the ball and Kel was completely shut down by the opposing guard, Sherm. The Mavs made it so that if the Hawks wanted to score, BP would be the only one.

“We all saw little glimmers of what BP is capable of. I think as a unit we can play way better than we did [Tuesday], I know that. But some positives I took away from it was we did score the ball. Another positive was after pretty much getting beat down in game one we didn’t check out. We came back and we fought hard in game two. We did see a scoring outburst from BP, who we brought over here to do just that. Now we have to adjust and make it equal a win for us.” Acuff said.

The team will have a chance at their first win of the season tonight as they face the leagues reigning champions, T-Wolves Gaming. Tip-off is set for 7pm and the game can be streamed on the league’s official YouTube, Twitch account, and also ESPN2. As for the game plan, Acuff is confident that BP will be able to lead the Hawks to a victory.

“I don’t want to change his game too much. We’re letting him play…and just trying to adjust and make the right decisions based on the opponents that we face.” He said.