When Thursday began, eight teams remained unbeaten in the NBA 2K League's 3v3 playoffs. When the day ended, four of the teams were still perfect, while the other four were out of the double-elimination event in Washington.
The field's top four seeds remain in the winners bracket, as No. 1 Lakers Gaming beat No. 8 Nets GC 3-1, No. 2 Magic Gaming topped No. 7 Heat Check Gaming 3-1, the No. 3 Gen.G Tigers edged No. 6 Celtics Crossover Gaming 3-2, and No. 4 T-Wolves Gaming beat community team Dribble Godz 3-1.
The Lakers, who dropped the first game to the Nets before sweeping the next three, were paced by Dhwan "ShiftyKaii" White (33 points in the four games) and Hezi "YooVc" Coates (25 points) -- though each player went scoreless in a game.
The 3v3 playoffs, which have a $550,000 prize pool, run through Saturday. Eight teams remain -- four in the winners bracket and four in the losers bracket. The two losers bracket games will be played first on Friday, followed by the winners bracket semis and then two more games.
Perhaps the most surprising development on Thursday is what happened after the four winners bracket games, in the losers bracket.
The No. 9 Grizz Gaming beat the Celtics 3-1, No. 13 Bucks Gaming beat Heat Check 3-2, the No. 10 76ers GC topped Dribble Godz 3-1 and the 11th-seeded Rim Runners (another community team) beat the Nets 3-2 -- meaning the four winners bracket losers were all eliminated on the same day.
The Friday schedule:
--Winners bracket semifinals -- Lakers Gaming vs. T-Wolves Gaming
--Winners bracket semifinals -- Magic Gaming vs. Gen.G Tigers
--Losers bracket round 3 -- Grizz Gaming vs. Bucks Gaming
--Losers bracket round 3 -- 76ers GC vs. Rim Runners
--Losers bracket round 4 -- Lakers/T-Wolves loser vs. Grizz/Bucks winner
--Losers bracket round 4 -- Magic/Gen.G loser vs. 76ers/Rim Runners winner
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