Rotowire

Magic Gaming entered their second game of the night after spitting a game each against Hawks Talon GC, giving them a 1-1 record in Group 4 of the TIPOFF Tournament, powered by AT&T. This game was the first of four games Tuesday for Kings Guard Gaming, who enter tournament play after racking up an impressive 6-3 season record. Kings Guard dropped a 2-1 series to the Magic in their last meeting, so Sacramento was looking to avenge that loss in the first round. The Magic did well to split these two games against an arguably superior team, and the Kings proved that by destroying them in a 37-point blowout in the second contest.

Although the Magic already possessed a stellar backcourt, they employed a new lineup by switching Reizey to point guard and sliding Djbama to off-guard. The experiment seemed to work well, as Magic Gaming eventually pulled away from the Kings after a fairly even three quarters of play. Reizey contributed 27 points and nine assists as the new floor general in a 61-55 win. The Magic won despite losing the turnover battle, 12-7, and an off-night from Seemo didn’t help matters for the Kings, as he scored just seven points in the contest. As usual, Bash delivered a solid stat line with 20 points and six assists in a losing effort. ToXsiK also provided a solid defensive presence for Orlando with five steals.

At this point, the Magic were likely considering themselves lucky to get a game off the Kings, who weren’t on their game in the first matchup. It was all Kings Guard in the first quarter of Game 2, however. Magic Gaming managed to put a small run together to narrow the Kings’ lead to seven points, but that didn’t hold up for long. Bash was making his presence known in the second frame, as he was directing the action on both sides of the ball and helped extend the King’s lead to 13, 37-24. The game began to slip away for the Magic in the third quarter, as they were outscored 15-9 and entered the final stanza down, 52-33. Things went from bad to worse for Orlando as the game devolved into a complete blowout, 78-41. Bash had an excellent game, totaling 36 points, eight assists and three steals. Crush also posted a nice line with 17 points and three steals, and Seemo bounced back with a 16-point effort. Reizey posted 27 points, but the rest of the starting five only managed to score a combined total of 14 points.

The Magic finished the night at 2-2 in Group 4 and their fate will largely depend on the outcome of the Hawks Talon/Kings Guard game later Tuesday. The same is true for the Kings (1-1), who should be safe if they can sweep Hawks Talon on Tuesday.