PACERS GAMING SPLITS FINAL NIGHT OF THE SWITCH GROUP PLAY

INDIANAPOLIS (April 14, 2023) – Pacers Gaming split its two best-of-five series late Friday night as it completed its two-week group play in the NBA 2K League SWITCH OPEN Tournament, defeating Wizards District Gaming 3-1 in the first match before losing 1-3 to 76ers GC in the nightcap.  The SWITCH OPEN defending champion Pacers finish group play with a 6-2 mark and will await word of their schedule for next week as the league prepares for Seed Play.  A winning effort next week would give Indiana an invite to Washington, D.C. the following week for in-person championship play and a chance to defend its tournament crown from 2022.

In the evening’s first series the Pacers battled back from a 1-0 deficit in the best-of-five series and won three straight to defeat Wizards District Gaming.  Indiana fell in Game 1, 21-15 as KAPP paced Washington with 14 points.  CHESS (Kory Taylor) with seven points and BIG REIGN (Blaine Wilson) with six points led the Blue & Gold.  The Pacers roared back in Game 2 with a proficient 21-13 pasting of the Wizards.  Indiana outrebound DC 4-1 and had six assists to Washington’s two.  Balanced scoring was the key for the Pacers as BIG REIGN scored nine, CHESS added eight points and JAYSNAGS (Julio Laboy) scored four.  KAPP was held to five for Washington and was its leading scorer.  The Pacers went up 2-1 in the series with a thrilling 22-16 victory in the pivotal Game 3.  JAYSNAGS led the way with 10 points on five-of-five shooting and pulled down a team-high three rebounds.  CHESS added seven points and dished four assists while BIG REIGN scored five, had two assists, a rebound and a steal.  KAPP led the Wizards with nine points.  The deciding Game 4 was electric.  The Pacers found themselves down 3-7, 7-11, 10-13, 12-15 and finally 20-21.  But the Pacers edged ahead 22-21 and after a tremendous defensive stop, won the game and the series on a thrilling three-pointer by JAYSNAGS.  CHESS had 11 points and four assists; JAYSNAGS had nine points and pulled down five rebounds and BIG REIGN added five points.  KAPP had 13 to lead Washington, which was held to 1-8 shooting from the three by the stifling Indiana defense.

The Pacers remarkably had to wait two- and one-half hours to play its next contest and the rust showed in a 1-3 series loss to 76ers GC.  Philly stormed to a 23-12 victory in Game 1 as DRE had 13 points for the victors.  CHESS and JAYSNAGS each recorded six points for Indiana. The Pacers ran out of gas in Game 2 as the 76ers outscored Indiana 17-6 down the stretch to win 22-18.  JAYSNAGS had eight points and CHESS added seven tallies for the Pacers while 630 led Philadelphia with 10.  The Blue & Gold battled back to win Game 3, 21-16 while shooting 82% (9-11) from the field and holding Philly to 54% (7-13) shooting.  JAYSNAGS had 11 points; CHESS went for seven points and dished three assists and BIG REIGN hit a crucial three pointer and grabbed a team-high four rebounds.  Game 4 featured a very rare occurrence – neither team MISSED a shot and NEITHER team grabbed a rebound as Philadelphia won the series with a 22-17 victory.  The 76ers were nine-of-nine (four-of-four from three) from the field while Indiana was eight-of-eight (one-of-one from beyond the arc). CHESS led Indiana with 11 points and JAYSNAGS netted six.  DRE led Philadelphia with 11 points.