PACERS GAMING VS WARRIORS & BLAZER5 GAMING – 2023 “THE TURN” TOURNAMENT
June 30, 2023
INDIANAPOLIS (June 30, 2023) – Pacers Gaming lost two road games – in two completely different fashions – Friday night as group play concluded in the NBA 2K League 5v5 THE TURN Tournament presented by AT&T. Indiana began the night with a 74-49 loss to first-place Warriors Gaming Squad before ending the evening with a tough 64-62 defeat to Blazer5 Gaming. Despite the setbacks, Indiana qualified for bracket-round play in the tournament which begins the week after next. The Pacers are 2-4 in THE TURN and 5-9 overall in 5v5 play this summer.
In their second game of the night, the Pacers lost a heart-breaker at the buzzer, 64-62 to Blazer5 Gaming. It was Portland that gave Indiana its first loss of THE TURN on June 21 with a 76-72 win. Former Pacer and Blazer forward LAVISH hit a jumper as time expired to give the home Blazers the two-point triumph. GREENLIGHT (Dylan Sanderson) led Indiana with 25 points and seven assists. Fellow back-court mate CHESS (Kory Taylor) scored 21 points. Center BIG REIGN (Blaine Wilson) pulled down 11 rebounds and scored six while RANGE (Gil Santiago, Jr,) and JAYSNAGS (Julio Laboy) each recorded five tallies. JAYSNAGS added three rebounds and three steals, an assist and a blocked shot. Indiana was outrebounded in the contest, 21-16. HARBY led Portland with 18 points followed by CLAUDE with 17 points and nine assists, KAYAUS with 14 and LAVISH with 12.
The Pacers came out strong early in the first quarter as GREENLIGHT scored six and Indiana led 14-9 after one. Portland outscored Indiana 21-10 down the stretch in the second quarter to take a 30-26 advantage at halftime. GREENLIGHT had 12 at intermission for the Pacers while CLAUDE scored 11 and HARBY tallied 10 for the home Blazers. Indiana controlled the third quarter as GREENLIGHT scored eight and CHESS added five while the Pacers outscored the Blazers 19-12 to take a 45-42 lead into the final period. Indiana led by eight (50-42) early (5:30) in the fourth quarter before seeing Portland take a five-point lead (59-54) with just 2:30 remaining. CHESS scored with 1:37 left to give the Pacers a 60-59 lead. After Portland went ahead with a three (62-60) with 1:14 left, Indiana tied the game at 62-62 with just under a minute to play. The two teams exchanged missed shots before Portland’s game-ending basket at the buzzer.
In the Pacers’ first game of the night, the Warriors used a 13-0 first-quarter spurt to take a 20-7 lead after one. Indiana was two-of-10 from the field in the first quarter while Golden State was eight-of-12. The second quarter was more competitive with the Warriors outscoring the Pacers 17-13 to take a 37-20 halftime advantage. Warriors Gaming pulled away for good in the third quarter, outscoring Indiana 17-10 to lead 54-30 after three. The Pacers battled to the end, only to get outscored in the fourth, 20-19. CHESS and JAYSNAGS led Indiana with 12 points apiece. RANGE chipped in with 11 points while BIG REIGN netted seven and pulled down 14 rebounds. GREENLIGHT was held to a season-low seven points – the only game in 14 contests this year that he did not score in double figures. Warriors Gaming had four players in double figures led by NAY with 20, CB13 with 19, MAMAIMDATMAN with 18 and KENNYGOTWORK with 10. Indiana shot 40% from the field while Golden State was 65%. The Warriors shot 50% from the three-point arc while Indiana shot 32%.
