The more things change, the more they stay the same. We all sit around watching the league, making opinions, extrapolating on roster moves, and yet, here we are again. 76ers GC defeated T-Wolves Gaming in the TIPOFF Finals. AKA, the third straight year that these two teams have met in the TIPOFF Finals…only it was much different this time. Let’s jump into five topics to recap the week.

 

1. 76ers GC: King of the TIPOFF

For whatever reason, this Finals between Philly and Minnesota felt far more monumental than the previous five times. This 5v5 season really is the beginning of the next era of the NBA 2K League, so it was important for the elite teams to step up and plant their flag. Boy, did they ever. 76ers GC won three Game 3s in a row, all on stage to win the banner. Their defense woke up at the perfect time. Them blowing out T-Wolves Gaming in the second quarter of game 2 will be something that sticks with me for a while. We just haven’t seen a team really stick it to Minnesota since they started their absurd run back in 2021. Sure, they have lost big series, but they’ve always been close and come down to the end. This was a systematic dismantling of the best offensive team in the league over the last three years. They ripped apart the 5-out offense in a way that no team really thought was possible. 76ers GC has defined the TIPOFF tournament since the league’s inception, but they waited six years for the most impressive win in team history.

2. Year of the PF

I wrote about this last week, so I’m cheating a bit here, but this has reaffirmed my original point. PF is officially the secnd most important position on the floor. We saw just how small the margins are for this position at the highest level. Seese had a slightly below-average performance against Grizz Gaming and WGS got swept. Anias was a god against NBL Oz and they barely broke 50 points, but was average against 76ers GC and Gen.G lost two in-a-row. Then DT happened, and 76ers GC was able to take down one of the best teams the TIPOFF has ever seen. To me, PF has to win DPOY this year. I expect we’re going to see a couple of trades and lineup changes that get power players into the PF spot. The reign of Centers has officially come to an end.

3. What does Minnesota do now?

I was talking to someone mid-week after Warriors Gaming Squad lost and we both agreed that it was probably better for them to lose in that fashion early so they can fill in the holes and be better for the playoffs. It’s definitely a favorable sentiment, but sometimes another team just beats you and Grizz Gaming did just that. However, it wasn’t some cataclysmic loss. It was just a loss. For T-Wolves Gaming, that felt much more monumental. They were the first team to really try five-out and it worked very well most of the time. The issue is that when it doesn’t work, it looks very, very bad. I expect they won’t change too much for THE TURN. Kind of hard to really flip over a game plan in such short order, but I think that team is going to have to show another level mentally to recover. That was a big, big loss during the worst possible time. They’ve now lost three different tournament finals this year across two game modes. That is not easy to recover from. This is a team full of talent and veterans so I assume they will dominate group play and yada yada….but…this generation of T-Wolves Gaming is becoming defined by the games they haven’t won vs. the trophies they’ve raised. How long can they manage these types of losses before it breaks this team? Sure, money is in their pockets, but the amount of money they’ve left on the table? At some point, something has to give.

4. The Rumor Mill

With the TIPOFF over, it’s now time to focus on THE TURN, my personal favorite tournament. We always have trades and roster moves this time of year, so I’ll throw the people a bone and tell you what I’ve been hearing. No team or players names, but here’s what I’ve got. 

• I know a struggling team in the West will have a new wing, a familiar name. This coming alongside a lineup change. 
• We have a possible intra-conference trade between two teams trying to figure out their Center position. I heard a first round pick may be involved in this move. 
• I also heard about a second intra-conference trade, this one between two point guards, but I’m not confident in this one happening. 
• Also, one rumor I haven’t shared with anyone yet, I’ve heard there may be a superstar on the move in the next couple of weeks. A few teams are looking to make a huge splash, so keep an eye out for a big surprise.

5. MVP Conversation

This is a really difficult year to figure out MVP. I don’t think there is one guard that has necessarily DOMINATED the field. I think ShiftyKai, Unguardable, and JohnnyRed are probably the three candidates that would appear on most people’s list right now. After that, it’s a bit up in the air. We have a few other guards like AntoineLove, Heat Check’s Kai, and Ant that have put up huge numbers. I wonder if we’ll get a few big men into the mix this year. With how important PF is defensively, maybe we see one sneak in? Tough to say. Good news is, we have a loooong way to go.