Win Streak Ends At 14 as Portland Drops Final Game of Regular Season
July 18, 2019
For the majority of Wednesday’s contest, things were looking bleak for T-Wolves Gaming (10-6), who needed a victory over the league’s top team in order to get a spot in the playoffs. Blazer5 Gaming (14-2), who came into the game on a 14-game winning streak, closed the first quarter on a 12-2 run and took a 19-9 lead into the second period.
From that point on, despite the fact that T-Wolves Gaming opened the second quarter on a 7-0 run that jump-started a strong six minutes for them, Blazer5 Gaming was able to hold onto that lead for almost the entire game. There were four ties that came in the fourth quarter, but it just didn’t look like T-Wolves Gaming was going to be able to get over the hump.
That was until the final possession of the game, when T-Wolves Gaming had the opportunity to take the last shot with the score all knotted up at 53. T-Wolves Gaming point guard BearDaBeast had the isolation late in the game clock, and when the defense collapsed, he kicked it out to a wide open TURNUPDEFENSE in the corner. The shot went up, it was good with just 0.2 seconds remaining, and T-Wolves Gaming had their first lead since early in the first quarter. Most importantly, they got the win.
That assist was BearDaBeast’s 12th over the game, as the point guard has been a double-double machine over the course of his team’s seven-game winning streak. He added 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting. TURNUPDEFENSE’S three gave him a team-high 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting, while small forward JMoneyRep817 added 18 points of his own. That trio accounted for 52 of the team’s 56 points Wednesday night, and they shot 62.6 percent from the field.
For Blazer5 Gaming, they were led by likely MVP Mama Im Dat Man, who scored a game-high 26 points on 9-of-13 shooting in addition to 10 assists. Only one other player managed to reach double figures for them, with last year’s MVP, center OneWildWalnut, who posted 12 points and nine rebounds. The other three Blazer5 Gaming players combined to score just 15 points.