Courtside

FORGET about the seedings, resorted to mostly out of convenience. For fans compelled to digest their required dose of hoops from the comfort of their homes, the NBA 2K20 Players-Only Tournament aimed to deliver the needed adrenaline rush, and from a bevy of the sport’s households names. And given the quick turnaround time from conception to implementation, it has done extremely well based on the completion of the first round of matches. At the very least, it has managed to keep National Basketball Association stakeholders busy.

Make no mistake. The participants took the tournament seriously. Most went all out from the start, choosing strong squads in order to get the win. Never mind their inability to reuse a team from a list of eight. And, in hindsight, their decision was rewarded. Four chose the Bucks, and all four moved on to the quarterfinals following convincing outcomes. Meanwhile, only two stuck with the franchises for which they actually play; up against each other, the Clippers’ Montrezl Harrell and the Pacers’ Domantas Sabonis showed their loyalty, respectively, and the latter was promptly blown off the court — but not before complaining out loud how his in-game likeness “sucks! He really sucks!”

Parenthetically, the refusal of the protagonists to stick to their colors is telling. Andre Drummond threatened to opt for the Cavaliers, getting a “you know something I don’t” reaction, before opting for the Lakers and coming up with a 52-point victory over DeMarcus Cousins’ Nets. Devin Booker said “ehh, no” when asked if he wanted to use the Suns, instead going for the Bucks and prevailing against Michael Porter Jr.’s Lakers in convincing fashion. “Because @NBA2K has my player messed up,” he later tweeted in defense of his decision.

Perhaps the proceedings would have been more intriguing were the players inclined to be more vocal. The very first match of the tournament proved to be a relative snoozefest, with Kevin Durant and Derrick Jones Jr. hardly interacting. The mere handful of quotable quotes had the future Hall-of-Famer bemoaning the actions of the Bucks’ Ersan Ilyasova against his Clippers. “Hold up. They got Ilyasova out here?” He asked at one point. And then, after the 36th overall pick in the 2005 draft got a steal, he argued: “Come on, man. This is a fluke!”

Needless to say, the most entertaining contests featured competitors proficient with the Xbox controllers. And it was also no shock to find the good ones predisposed to doing a lot of trash talk. Patrick Beverley’s Bucks demolished Hassan Whiteside’s Lakers, even getting in a jab against his real-life foil. “Uh uh. This ain’t videogame [LeBron] James,” he said after a block. “He got some years on him now. He can’t just be jumpin’ all over the rim now.” And when he was told he had Giannis Antetokounmpo for “a cheat code,” he contended, “It ain’t Giannis that’s playing. I’m controlling him. So I’m just a cheat code. You can just call me The Cheat Code.”

Next up are set-tos between Jones and Harrell, Drummond and Beverley, Booker and Rui Hachimura (whose Lakers escaped with a triumph over Donovan Mitchell’s Nets on Monday), and the Hawks’ Trae Young and the Suns’ DeAndre Ayton. All are certified gamers, but the latter is especially proficient at NBA 2K play. Then again, anything can happen with six-minute quarters in a one-and-done setting. Under the circumstances, going with the best team still available is sound. Bragging rights are at stake, so there can be no risking the present for a projected advantage.

 

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994.