Dimez drops 50 for Mavs Gaming in NBA 2k League tournament: Recap and highlights

The best players come up huge when their teams need them most, and Dimez did that for Mavs Gaming in a must-win situation.

Group D in “The Tipoff,” the season-opening tournament for the NBA 2k League, completed play on Friday. The result was the final two teams advancing to Saturday’s single-elimination round with $100,000 on the line. The action that led up to that result was highlighted by a historic performance by the league’s top overall pick in the draft.

First on the court were Celtics Crossover Gaming and Pacers Gaming, with Celtics Crossover looking to get a leg up on punching its ticket to Saturday’s single-elimination round with a win.

After getting into the highlight reel with a bucket on Thursday night, Celtics Crossover’s Melo East appeared again in the first quarter of the game against Pacers Gaming with this assist.

Later in the first, Pacers Gaming’s WoLF 74 posterized several Celtics Crossover would-be defenders and added insult to injury by getting the foul call as well.

Pacers Gaming held a razor-thin 31-30 lead at halftime, but Celtics Crossover outscored them 20-14 to take a five-point lead into the final quarter. Celtics Crossover built on that momentum in the final quarter to claim a 70-61 win and improve to 2-0 in group play. The second game of the day featured two teams who lost their first games on Thursday night both desperately needing to avoid going 0-2.

PHENOM vv showed his tremendous range in the first quarter for Grizz Gaming.

Heat Check Gaming’s Hotshot helped his team take a six-point lead into halftime on both ends of the court.

Heat Check was able to maintain that margin through the third quarter, but an early fourth-quarter run by Grizz Gaming wrought a tie game with five minutes to play. Trading buckets over the last five minutes led to a 66-63 Heat Check win but not without some controversy. Grizz Gaming appeared to have hit a game-tying three as time expired, but a review showed that the shot didn’t get off in time.

Pacers Gaming then re-took the stage, trying to make the group play records of both itself and Mavs Gaming 1-1.

JordanLocksUp drives for the reverse layup early in the second quarter.

After Pacers Gaming took a three-point lead to start the third quarter, Mavs Gaming’s Dimez kept the pressure on with this buzzer-beater to end the quarter.

Pacers Gaming proved up to the task of putting both teams at 1-1 in group play with a 57-50 win. Pacers Gaming had an immediate opportunity to build on its momentum, staying on the stage to face Heat Check Gaming. The winner would improve to 2-1 in group play and be in a solid position for earning one of two spots in Saturday’s championship round.

Heat Check had little trouble building an early lead.

Down four in the third quarter, WoLF 74 threw it down to cut that lead in half.

That play swung the momentum fully in the direction of Pacers Gaming and built through the rest of the contest. Pacers Gaming boosted its group play record to 2-1 with the 66-49 win, and that feat was what Mavs Gaming sought to replicate in the next game as they faced Celtics Crossover in a battle of the top two picks in the draft.

Dimez continued to show why he was the top overall pick in the draft with this spectacular play.

Second overall pick oFAB responded for Celtics Crossover late in the first quarter.

Celtics Crossover built a 15-point lead at the half with hot shooting, but it would prove to truly be a tale of two halves as Mavs Gaming outscored Celtics Crossover 46-24 over the final two quarters to take the game 81-74. Both teams now stood at 2-1 with a good shot to take one of the two championship round spots available, something that Pacers Gaming stepped back onto the court looking to do against Grizz Gaming.

WoLF 74 had himself a day as he victimized some more opponents in the third quarter.

That highlight summed up the entire game, as Pacers Gaming rolled to a 69-45 victory and a 3-1 mark in the group. Celtics Crossover was up next, against Heat Check, with a chance to join Pacers Gaming at 3-1.

Heat Check was still alive for a spot in the championship round, and MaJes7ic showed his team was aware of the urgency early in the game.

More creation and execution by oFAB.

oFAB lead his team to a 90-75 win and set the stage for the final game of the night between Mavs Gaming and Grizz Gaming. Mavs Gaming needed not only a win, but a win by at least a nine-point margin to leapfrog Celtics Crossover and take one of the two championship round spots.

Dimez is one of the most versatile players in the league and showed that in this play early in the game.

Dimez came up as big as a player possibly could, becoming the first NBA 2k League player to drop 50 points in a game and lead Mavs Gaming to an impressive 92-51 win that claimed the Group D championship and a $5,000 bonus. Mavs Gaming will face the runner-up of Group C, 76ers GC in Saturday’s championship quarterfinals. As the runner-up of Group D, Pacers Gaming will face undefeated Blazer5 Gaming.

The championship round gets going on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET, and the schedule is as follows:

• Quarterfinal 1: Cavs Legion GC vs. Jazz Gaming
• Quarterfinal 2: Blazer5 Gaming vs. Pacers Gaming
• Quarterfinal 3: Warriors Gaming Squad vs. Pistons GT
• Quarterfinal 4: Mavs Gaming vs. 76ers GC
• Semifinal 1: Winner of Quarterfinal 1 vs. Winner of Quarterfinal 2
• Semifinal 2: Winner of Quarterfinal 3 vs. Winner of Quarterfinal 4
• Championship game: Winner of Semifinal 1 vs. Winner of Semifinal 2

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Whether Dimez can lead Mavs Gaming to a title in “The Tipoff” or not, he’s undoubtedly shown that he’s a force to be feared for all those who will face him for the rest of this season.