The Atlanta Hawks Talon Gaming Club lost their second series in a row, this time against Utah Jazz Gaming Affiliate. After triumphing in game one 70-61, Atlanta dropped the next two matchups 78-58 and then 75-53. Now sitting at 3-5, Coach Wesley Acuff gave no excuses for his team’s slump, and expressed belief in his team.
“I don’t know if this is something every team goes through, because we see certain teams being undefeated or on long winning streaks,” said coach Acuff.
“I do hope it’s a hiccup, and we’ve shown we’re competitive enough to beat these teams. Like last night, we were able to pull off a win in game one. So clearly we’re capable of executing and beating these teams. Now closing out a series is a different story.”
Despite sporting a losing record, coach Acuff did not see the need to make drastic changes to the team’s strategies. He believed the team has enough talent to win, and just needs to focus.
“For us, we have to get to work now, and we need to get some wins through the rest of the season to give us a shot (to make the playoffs),” said the coach.
While Michael “BP” Diaz Cruz and Mykel “KEL” Wilson shoulder the majority of the scoring load, the last few games have seen other players begin to contribute hefty point totals to the team. For instance, Lee “LEE” Lamb dropped a career-high 26 against Utah, along with nine boards and four blocks. However, his success was actually emblematic of a problem Talon GC has consistently had this season.
“Individually, all of the guys are good. What our problem is that we haven’t been able to make adjustments against the adjustments the other teams are making,” said the coach. “You saw in game one, Lee carried the load and worked with BP in the pick and roll. That caused them to make an adjustment to how they were defending that. Once they made that adjustment, we weren’t able to rebound and make that other adjustment.”
Coach Acuff said he has thought about changing up the lineups, or at least changing player roles within the lineup. He said the team has already done some adjusting in practice, but that the team defaults to their standard lineup because “it seems to be our strongest lineup, that gives us the best shot.” He said other lineups would take Mykel Wilson out his off-ball role, which would not benefit the team.
Talon GC plays again on July 7 against Orlando Magic Gaming. According to a press release sent out by the team, the match as “cash prize implications.” The games can be viewed on the NBA 2K League’s Twitch and YouTube channels.
ABOUT TALON GC (copied from a team E-mail):
Hawks Talon GC is the Atlanta Hawks affiliate team in the NBA 2K League. Led by Head Coach Wesley Acuff, Hawks Talon GC was one of four expansions team in the second season of the NBA 2K League, a professional competitive gaming league co-founded by the NBA and Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO). The NBA 2K League features the best NBA 2K players in the world competing as unique characters in 5-on-5 play against other teams in a mix of regular season games, tournaments and playoffs. For more information on Hawks Talon GC, visit hawkstalongc.gg or follow the team on Twitter and Instagram.