Nickname Spotlight: The Box
June 22, 2021
Defense wins championships. That might be the oldest saying in professional sports. Well, considering Wizards District Gaming are the reigning NBA 2K League champs, and they are currently allowing the fewest points per game, it seems there is some validity to the concept.
Through 12 games this season, WDG is 9-3 and allowing a stingy 61.3 points per contest.
After a dominant 4-0 performance that saw WDG sweep Nets GC and Raptors Uprising GC, the defense was again the champs’ calling card.
Why are they so good on defense? It’s a team effort, and the backbone is league superstar Dayfri, but it all starts on the perimeter with Just Awkward. Whether it is an individual defensive effort on the league’s most dangerous scorers or funneling would-be penetrators into the wall that is Dayfri, JA has been simply spectacular on the defensive end with his 2-Way Three-Point Facilitator archetype.
We saw him perhaps at his best in Week 4, which has a lot to do with why his squad had a perfect run. Charged with slowing down two of the league’s top offensive threats in Choc and Kenny Got Work, JA was up to the task.
Choc is a phenomenal scorer who Nets GC runs most of their attack through. He came into the game leading the league in assists and sixth in scoring. He averaged 25.5 points and 11 assists in the two games, but both totals were beneath his season averages. JA was also partially responsible for helping to harass Choc into 12 turnovers in the series, six in each game.
Choc had only had six or more turnovers in two of the Nets GC’s other 14 games combined.
JA was even more restrictive on Kenny. He limited the RUG star to 16 points, 5 assists, and 5.5 turnovers per game. Kenny shot 12-for-27 from the field and 7-for-15 from three-point range. It’s been a down year for RUG all around, but no defense had grounded them quite as bad as WDG.
The steal numbers aren’t off the charts for JA, but he is getting 1.8 pilfers per contest which is good for No. 8 in the league. Depending on the quality of the scorer, the confinement has different dimensions, but when JA has defended guys this year, they have been in the proverbial box.
That’s this week’s nickname; Gary Payton was the glove in IRL hoops, and JA is The Box in the NBA 2K League.
Brian Mazique is a life-long hoops junkie and a fan of the NBA 2K franchise since its inception in 1999. Professionally, he has a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication, and has covered sports and video games for the past 15 years for a variety of platforms, including Bleacher Report, Forbes, and Heavy.com. The views on this page are that of this writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA 2K League or its clubs.
