THE TURN TOURNAMENT – ROUND 2
July 15, 2021
INDIANAPOLIS – No. 2-seed Pacers Gaming got upset in the second round of the NBA 2K League THE TURN tournament Thursday night, losing its best-of-three series 2-1 to Heat Check Gaming. Indiana, now 15-10 overall in 2021, won Game 1 79-59 but then lost the next two contests, 68-64 and 79-72. The Pacers will resume regular-season play on July 22 at 7:00 p.m. vs. Bucks Gaming.
In Game 1, Pacers Gaming led after each quarter enroute to the runaway 20-point victory. Rookie point guard 630 (Xavier Barraza) led all scorers with 37 points and 10 assists. Swizurk (Nick Grech) added 17 points and veteran center Jomar (Jomar Varela-Escapa) earned another double-double with 10 points and 15 points (and six assists). Wolf (Bryant Colon) contributed 10 points on four-of-five shooting. SAV led Miami with 19.
Heat Check earned the four-point Game 2 win with 27 points from Hotshot while SAV added 19 points. Miami committed only three turnovers in the game while Indiana had eight. Jomar led the Pacers with a season-high 28 points on 14-of-16 shooting and nine rebounds. 630 scored 23 and had 13 assists. The first quarter was tied 18-18 but Miami outscored Indiana 24-16 to lead 42-34 at half. The Pacers outscored Heat Check 17-14 in the third and 13-12 in the fourth.
In the pivotal Game 3, Indiana took a 19-16 edge after the first quarter behind six points each from Swizurk and Jomar. Miami narrowed the lead to one at half with a 22-20 second period. The Pacers, behind 25 from 630 and 17 from Swizurk, outscored Miami 20-16 in the third quarter to lead 59-54 going to the fourth quarter. But the visitors from Florida outscored Indiana 25-13 in the final quarter to complete the 79-72 comeback victory. 630 led the Pacers with 30 points; Swizurk added 19 and Jomar earned a double/double with 12 points and 14 rebounds.
Box scores below:
Game 1:
Game 2:
Game 3:
