2019 NBA 2K League Finals recap: A look from the eyes of the players

T-Wolves Gaming defeated 76ers GC to win the 2019 NBA 2K League championship in a decisive Game 5 and BearDaBeast wins NBA 2K League Finals MVP. Here’s a look into the series from the players’ point of view.

T-Wolves Gaming has won the 2019 NBA 2K League Finals!

In dramatic fashion, 2K League fans around the world were treated to a hard-fought five-game series featuring a 76ers GC team that felt they were destined to be there and an upstart T-Wolves Gaming team that hadn’t lost a regular-season or playoff game since June 6.

https://twitter.com/nba2kleague/status/1157875617012113408?s=21

"“Nobody gave us a chance to make it to the championship. I’m super proud of my team and were going to go out here and give you guys a show.” – BearDaBeast"

And put on a show he did. BearDaBeast averaged 21 points and seven assists on his way to winning the title and being named NBA 2K League Finals MVP. From flashy dribble moves to off timing up-and-under layups to back-breaking Euro step dunks, Bear was really in his bag.

He made sure to dime up his open teammates when the defense allowed while keeping forced, contested shots to a minimum. Everyone in the studio knew his main goal was to drive the lane, but 76ers GC needed more than the 2K gods on their side to have a chance at slowing him down.

Speaking of slowing him down, it was mainly NewDini33‘s responsibility as the team’s lockdown defender build.

The onus wasn’t squarely on him of course, but with three of the other four members of T-Wolves Gaming being on sharpshooting builds, defensive help was scarce and defensive rotations and the communication around those coverages were challenging to say the least.

"“I’ve watched a lot of film and its not just up to me to stop him [BearDaBeast]. It’s us as a unit. We have to communicate.” -NewDini33"

There was a point during a timeout that Sixers head coach Jeff Terrell needed to do what was best to motivate NewDini33 and that included some tough love. The interaction was all there right on stream for the world to see.

Although they didn’t end up winning the title, he was very receptive to his coaches words and left it all on the line. As NBA twitter likes to do, many fans were chiming in voicing their displeasure of the moment, but Dini made a statement in the days following the matchup clearing the air.

Check out this thread for his full response:

"“Some things didn’t go our way that we couldn’t control. Going the whole off-season thinking about that and seeing another team win… That’s tough. We didn’t want to feel that again. -Steez"

76ers GC center Steez voiced his displeasure with the team’s loss to Heat Check Gaming in last years semifinals.

Sitting in the studio, you couldn’t help but feel a little bad for the Sixers as it seemed like once again, something out of their control was preventing them from playing their best basketball.

There were some significant technical difficulties during the Finals that caused the series to be postponed for a few hours before Game 3 could be played.

During this time, extensive testing was done to find the root cause and once they were able to isolate the issue, the league took the rest of the time to replace each of the 10 CPUs used during gameplay with their backups and to create an NBA 2K League Finals themed court for the teams to play on.

Although things were made even for both teams heading into game three, the Sixers had to shake off the fog and cobwebs to get locked in.

Unfortunately for them, the buzzsaw was coming no matter what. T-Wolves Gaming was more than OK with running a five-out offense and there was nothing the Sixers could do about it.

"“My focus was never on the MVP award. My focus was getting us to this point.” -Radiant“No one on our team cares about numbers. You can have the best numbers, the DPOYs, MVP awards, and get first-rounded. That really doesn’t matter to us.” -BreadwinnerLA"

76ers GC all-NBA 2K League point guard Radiant maintained his cool calm and collected demeanor before the series started.

When he speaks, you can tell this is his usual personality as Steez and BreadwinnerLA did most of the talking. Make no mistake about it; this team is tight and makes sure to look out for one another.

Last season Radiant was a finalist for the MVP award. This year he made it a goal to play for his teammates with the sole focus of winning a championship. He made it but during every game of the series that stature of mentioned above stated to crumble.

The face cams the league added for each player on the stage provides a slightly different way to digest the game for those in the studio.

For Games 3 and 4, I took the liberty of sitting directly behind him in the audience. That HD face cam shows a spectator everything they need to know about how a player is feeling at any given point.

Watching the big screen, you could see the T-Wolves defense swirling on every possession. They watched film as well in preparation and it was apparent. Every set the Sixers ran, Minnesota was all over it while trying their hardest to keep a body in front of Radiant.

Sure, there were mistakes and brilliant plays made by Radiant, ZDS, BreadwinnerLA and Steez, but what stood out to me the most was the look on Radiant’s face throughout those two games. He looked nervous. Almost scared to shoot for fear of where the next defender may slide over from.

There were some instances where he would break down the initial defender, get into open space and just a split second too soon, kick the ball to the corner in anticipation of help coming or the decider being asleep in the corner.

This resulted in missed shots by teammates and turnovers galore.

The amount of processing you could see on his face for each and every dribble was impressive, but you could tell it was just too much to be doing all at once. I’m sure he wishes he played a bit more freely.

"“I have to help regulate the scoring. My scoring is a big part of the offense. I have to help Radiant out. I have to knock down my open shots.” -ZDS"

Not only did ZDS end up scoring 14 points per game in the Finals, but he also ended up surpassing Radiant in scoring. Many of his shots came while he was fading away after the catch or with his feet not set, or both. He could’ve scored a few more buckets if he was able to slow down just a bit.

The players have been very vocal about what happens to them when sitting on the home side versus the away side. The league has never made an official statement on the matter but here’s the data so you can look for yourself.

Radiant’s output each game:

• Game 1 (home): 2 points, 7 assists, 8 turnovers, 1/9 shooting
  Game 2 (away): 18 points, 9 assists, 1 turnover, 7/15 shooting
  Game 3 (home): 7 points, 11 assists, 9 turnovers, 3/7 shooting
  Game 4 (away): 24 points, 10 assists, 2 turnovers, 10/16 shooting
  Game 5 (home): 8 points, 7 assists, 12 turnovers, 3/9 shooting

Both star point guards were in a duel for the title, but the fans will never be sure the games build did not play a factor. Each game, only one could do well. As the players and fans switched sides, so did the advantage.

"“We’ll save that for Minnesota.” -NachoTraynor“If y’ all want a show, come back to Minnesota!” -BearDaBeast"

There are a few things we won’t know for a while, but one thing is for sure, T-Wolves Gaming definitely had celebratory plans in advance of winning the championship. Another thing we won’t know is if Breadwinner ever picked up Bear’s FaceTime call.

When the series was finished, Bear made sure to publicly remind interim head coach Justin Butler that he said he’d consider returning as head coach if they won the championship. He’s now bound to that consideration.

"“This is a special team. We were 5-4 at one point and nobody ever worried. Everybody was calm. We knew how good we were. It was just a matter of how we were going to get there.” –oCASSIUS"

In defeat, the 76ers main goal seems to be to retain as many players as possible from this championship run as they’ve really built something here.

They’ll have to wait to see what NBA 2K League Managing Director Brendan Donohue decides when it comes to the expansion draft in the offseason. Last season each team was allowed to protect only two players from their roster.

While some teams made trades surrounding draft picks as opposed to releasing a player, the players and team management must wait and see what comes down from the league to determine how they operate this time around with only one, so far, new entry into the league (Hornets Venom GT).

All the regular-season league awards have been given out, the championship trophy and the Finals MVP honors.

The only thing left for players and fans left to do is to speculate about what’s coming this offseason and how the changes implemented in NBA 2K20 will affect the league build.