Season 2 of the NBA 2K League has had just about everything you could ask for out of a basketball league. Outrageous finishes, huge comebacks, and enough buzzer beaters that at this point, we have simply lost count. Inside those great plays has been some brilliant play calling and execution alongside your usual breakdowns on both ends of the court. We are going to break down some of those moments frame by frame to find out just how these plays came to life.

During Week 10, Blazer5 Gaming and Grizz Gaming squared off in a thriller that came down to a trio of fantastic plays to finish off the game.

👀 Check your pulse after watching @blazer5gaming and @GrizzGaming trade buckets as the clock winds down in 4Q… 👀 pic.twitter.com/7ZHsvOQ95b

— NBA 2K League (@NBA2KLeague) June 28, 2019

Our focus today is on the final play of the game that saw Mama Im Dat Man find Jomar12_PR on a cut to the hoop to win the game. A play that, while it looks very simple, has a ton of intricacies to it.

The Inbound

With 2.9 seconds left on the clock, Blazer5 Gaming is down by 1 point. With that amount of time, there are only three real possibilities to win.

1. Mama connects on what would be a lucky 3.
2. OneWildWalnut slips off his screen to the hoop and prays no one follows him.
3. Jomar12_PR finds a lane and gets to the rim.

Grizz Gaming is basically triple teaming Mama on this play, no surprise since he is shooting 51% from 3 this year. Walnut and Daveed 3x’s defenders are cheating up on this play to ensure that Mama can’t find any open space on the perimeter or get an open lane to the hoop. With Mama and Walnut as unlikely candidates to score and LavishPhenom spacing the floor in the far corner, our attention turns towards Jomar.

The Read

The key to this play being successful is Jomar shedding his man and getting to the rim, but with only two lanes, it’s a coin flip for choosing correctly. He can go around KelMav towards Vandi and likely get double covered or make a move and go right down the center of the floor. The biggest difference between the two frames is how Walnut is now positioned. The pick he is setting is specifically to open up space for Mama. At this point in the play, he’s about as likely to score as Daveed.

 

The Cut

 

Jomar hits KelMav with a small hesitation, causing him to lean left and open up space down the middle of the floor. As a defender in this situation, it’s imperative to stay in front of your man. You may lose your man, but staying with him would allow you to contest a shot or even foul Jomar to send him to the line. However, Kel slightly oversteps and isn’t able to recover fast enough to follow Jomar. As Jomar is cutting to the hoop, AuthenticAfrican moves in on Mama in an attempt to close down the passing lane and force a turnover. This is where Mama shows his MVP chops. He stays calm and makes the correct KIND of pass.

The Pass

 

For those who don’t know, you can select what kind of pass you want to throw depending on which button you press. All are available from chest pass to bounce pass to overhead and alley-oops. This is where an elite PG comes up huge. Mama sees Jomar cutting to the hoop and throws a perfect overhead pass. A bounce pass probably doesn’t get through, a chest pass is an instant turnover and throwing an alley-oop in this situation is very risky. Mama goes with the overhead pass, making sure the ball can’t be tipped or intercepted, as Jomar flushes it home to get the win.

The Verdict

Mama told us after the game that they called that play specifically to get Jomar in the lane.

“I had seen Kel cheating up on him all game long, I knew if he made a move and beat him to the free throw line, it was over.”

These are the kind of plays that have kept Blazer5 Gaming on top of the regular season standings for two years. Situational play calling and elite execution will always lead to success in big moments and when you throw in top-end talent, you end up with a 14-1 record and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs for the 2nd straight year.

For Grizz Gaming, it’s a lesson learned.