Miami Heat Check Gaming suffers heart breaking loss to 76ers GC

After a disappointing loss to Celtics Crossover Gaming the day prior, Miami Heat Check Gaming looked to bounce back and come out with a split for week six of the regular season.

After a disappointing loss to Celtics Crossover Gaming, Miami Heat Check Gaming looked to bounce back and come out with a split for week six of the regular season. oFab (36pts) and ProFusion ( 20pts) snatched the keys to their season back from Heat Check as they head into a somewhat easier territory in week seven.

For Friday night’s game, Coach Famous had seen enough and implemented a change to the archetype lineup for their upcoming heavyweight matchup against 76ers GC. MaJes7ic and 24K Dropoff switched places and archetypes for what seems to be permanently. 24K Dropoff moved up a spot to the small forward on a Shot Creating Sharpshooter while MaJes7ic moved down a spot to the power forward on a Sharpshooting Rim Protector.

Both archetypes can shoot the ball from distance, but I believe this swap has two distinct benefits for Heat Check. The first is that it allows 24K Dropoff to facilitate a bit more without as big of a fear that he’ll turn it over. While down on the other build, he was relegated to using the gold level badges of catch & shoot and corner specialist. After the switch, he’ll have access to those badges previously mentioned as well as gold levels of Deep Range Deadeye, Difficult Shots, Mid Range Deadeye, and Tireless Scorer. In the right hands, this build is deadly.

For MaJes7ic, his role now switches to defending the pick and roll as the help man. 76ers GC love to set screens at the top of the key to get Radiant open looks off the dribble. With there now being a second defensive archetype in the action, it makes it much harder for the 76ers to accomplish their goal because as soon as he gets past pure lockdown defender, Lotty, MaJes7ic will be right there to step up and make life hard for Radiant.

Despite Radiant hitting his first shot of the game (a wing 3-pointer off of a solid screen from Steez), this lineup change seemed to work as intended. Press up on Radiant while staying home on all shooters not named Breadwinner LA (27 percent from deep on the season) and force Radiant to use his silver-level Deep Range Deadeye and Difficult Shots to get buckets.

He remained scoreless for the duration of the first quarter. Philadelphia was frigid from the field as they were 1-for-8 with three turnovers at the 2:45 mark in the first quarter. Outside of the opening 3-pointer by Radiant which Lotty promptly answered with a 3-pointer of his own, the only shots made were attempts at the rim by ZDS and Breadwinner LA. To say the Sixers were clamped, would be an understatement.

The second quarter looked to be a defensive war between both sides as the first score came about a minute after the period began but not before three offensive rebounds by Miami Heat Check. With HotShot putting an end to the drought and the Sixers sputtering, coach Jeff Terrell called a timeout to talk things over with his players.

The stoppage in play was no help as Philadelphia went on to miss their next two shots, then turn the ball over. This sloppy play became contagious as neither team made a shot for another two and a half minutes until Radiant recorded his first assist of the night on a dunk by Newdini33 (remember that name).

The remainder of the first half seemed tightly contested, but when it all shook out, it was Miami Heat Check who scored single digits in a quarter(9) while the Sixers dropped fourteen.

The second half of action was a tug of war between two teams who did not want to go home winless for Memorial Day weekend after losing the day prior to some tough squads. Fast forward four minutes and you have the most exciting 2K League action of the night.

With two minutes left Radiant activates his takeover badge, drives the lane and dishes out to ZDS on the left wing for an open 3-pointer. 24K Dropoff was nearby but looked like he fell asleep on his defensive assignment since Radiant got so deep towards the hoop before passing. On the next possession, HotShot collects two offensive rebounds, and then the team swings the ball to 24K Dropoff on the right wing for an open shot beyond the arc.

Just when the Miami Heat thought they might pull away, Radiant hits a heavily contested layup between two defenders to tie the game at 56 apiece. Radiant then shows how cold-blooded he is by hitting a step back mid-range jumper off of a screen from Steez with thirty seconds remaining.

The kicker in this scenario is that Lotty was in front of him with his pure lockdown defender, which should have negated all of his offensive badges. Hood would not be outdone here and came right back at the Sixers with a made three at the top of the key after Newdini33 gets caught on a MaJes7ic screen. This put Heat Check up by one with twenty seconds remaining.

Breadwinner LA continues his cold shooting from the corner as he misses an open 3-pointer with the opportunity to take the lead. He does get his own rebound and promptly calls a timeout however and thus gives his team the chance to decide their fate with the game clock reading just over three seconds.

On this final play of regulation, 76ers GC needs to score to take the lead. Coach Terrell draws up a play, and they head out of the huddle confident. Heat Checks typically aggressive style of defense is toned down a bit so they can contest any shot that goes up. And this is precisely what the Sixers wanted: A wide open inbound to Radiant who hits Newdini33 on the baseline cut with the gold dimer badge proving a jolt of luck.

They got exactly what they wanted on the inbound play but also something they could not foresee. Hood bumps Newdini as he’s attempting to go past him with the ball, but he goes up for the shot with the clock winding down. In a moment that felt like forever, he got an animation where he gathered and jumped towards the basket with his back facing the defender and pout the layup up and in as time expired.

Everyone in the studio was shocked unable to immediately process what they just saw and then it all set in. All at once. A Miami Heat Check loss that’ll undoubtedly put them behind the eight-ball coming into week eight of the regular season where they’ll face off against Magic and Jazz Gaming.

Not only did they drop two games in week six, but they also have a bye week the following week, which almost guarantees them an unsavory spot in the standings until they can pull themselves up. Everyone in the organization seemed confident they’d be able to put work in and bounce back their next time on the virtual hardwood. But until then, they’ll just have to wait and see.