NBA 2K LeagueTalon GC lost twice to Sacramento's Kings Guard Gaming to be eliminated from the NBA 2K League's THE TIPOFF tournament on Tuesday night.

After a long night of virtual basketball, the Atlanta Hawks Talon GC were eliminated in pool play at the NBA 2K League’s THE TIPOFF tournament Tuesday, which ended at 12:43 a.m. EST.

Talon, along with nine other teams, were eliminated from the hunt for the event’s $70,000 top prize — equivalent to a 35% raise on a rookie’s base salary if split evenly across the team’s six competitors.

Heading into its final matchup with Sacramento’s Kings Guard Gaming, Talon had to win by 33 points to claim a spot in the second round. It fell 66-63.

Technical issues plagued Talon’s first series of the night against Orlando’s Magic Gaming. Persistent delays and cut connections forced both games to restart and then end prematurely to run for the typical 24-minute game length. 

A few of the contests were called by announcers, but most games were played absent a human voice, except for the in-game virtual crowd noise and occasional boisterous animated fan blurting something like “Put up the trey!” or “Let’s get back in this game!”

Against 2-5 Magic Gaming, Talon lost game one in the final six minutes. After entering the fourth quarter up one point, the tit-for-tat battle tilted toward Orlando, which outscored Atlanta 15-8 to come out six points on top.

Talon fired early in game two, pulling ahead by 18 in the first period and holding a lead for the next 18 minutes of gameplay to win 71-52. Kwan “followTHEGOD” Niblack Jr. posted 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including three behind the arc.

Atlanta’s season-long points leader, Michael “Bp” Diaz-Cruz scored 25 and then 26 against Magic Gaming to keep Talon competitive, and budding offensive talent Mykel “Kel” Wilson averaged 19.5 in the first two-game series of the night.

Despite losing one, Talon still had the opportunity to advance with a pair of wins, or at least one victory and an offensive burst in its two games against Kings Gaurd. Game one all but erased Atlanta’s hopes.

Kings Guard Gaming — 6-3 on the year — easily handled Talon 73-53. A two-point Talon lead quickly dissipated in the second quarter as Atlanta was outscored 19-6. Kings Guard didn’t let off the gas, notching positive margins for the rest of the game.

Diaz-Cruz’s production dipped to 19 points, and his 10 assists weren’t enough to offset nine turnovers, which more than doubled his previous two-game total. Wilson stayed steady with a 19-point output, but didn’t register a single assist, rebound or steal.

Meanwhile, Niblack Jr. went 1-of-4 from three and Levi “Lee” Lamb, who competes as a towering center, pulled in 8 rebounds, nearly six fewer than his average through the first nine contests of 2020.

Never nearing a 33-point differential in Talon’s favor, game two was mostly a consolation match. For a majority of the game, however, it looked like it had the victory.

Atlanta shot 65% from the field to Sacramento’s 49%, but fourth quarter failure struck again as a late three-point lead — battered by consistent turnovers and easy, flipped-court buckets — turned into a three-point loss.

Diaz-Cruz posted 29 points and 13 assists in Talon’s final effort in THE TIPOFF, which ended early Wednesday morning. Lamb shot 75% from the field to add 12 points to his 13 boards.

Printed with permission from The Red & Black independent student media organization based in Athens, Georgia; redandblack.com/sports