A community team is proving to be quite the tough out at the NBA 2K League’s 3v3 Switch Open.
For the second time in bracket play, Rim Runners took down a professional team, beating Mavs Gaming 3-1 on Wednesday to advance to the third round of the winners bracket.
Rim Runners, seeded 29th in the tournament, took the first two games against No. 13 Mavs Gaming 21-18 and 23-20 before the Mavs fought back with a 23-10 drubbing.
But Rim Runners held on with a 22-20 win to drop the Mavs into the losers bracket. They will next face No. 5 Gen.G Tigers, a 3-1 winner over No. 12 Hawks Talon GC.
The Switch Open is the second of three 3v3 tournaments in the NBA 2K League season. Lakers Gaming won the Slam Open, and the Steal Open will follow this month. The 3v3 playoffs are set for April 24-27 in Washington, with cumulative results in the three tournaments determining the playoff field and seeding.
The Switch Open runs through Saturday.
Also on Wednesday, the top seed going into bracket play, Heat Check Gaming, took a pair of losses and were eliminated from the tournament. First, No. 16 Pistons GT beat them 3-1 in the winners-bracket second round, and then Kings Guard Gaming, seeded 11th, beat the Heat 3-1 in a losers-bracket matchup. That leaves Lakers Gaming as the highest remaining seed.
The No. 2 Lakers edged No. 15 Pacers Gaming 3-2, winning the deciding game 22-18 to remain in the winners bracket. The Lakers will play No. 7 Grizz Gaming in the third round after Grizz swept No. 10 DUX Infinitos 3-0. Also advancing in the winners bracket were No. 9 Magic Gaming, a 3-1 winner over No. 25 Hornets Venom GT; No. 3 Jazz Gaming, who beat No. 14 Raptors Uprising GC 3-2; and No. 22 76ers GC, a 3-2 upset winner over No. 6 NBL Oz Gaming.
In other losers-bracket matches, No. 23 NetsGC handed the Mavs their second loss of the day, 3-2, to eliminate the Mavs; No. 4 Celtics Crossover Gaming swept DUX out of the tournament; No. 21 Warriors Gaming Squad did the same to Pacers Gaming; Bucks Gaming, seeded 19th, swept away the Hornets; and No. 18 T-Wolves Gaming beat the Hawks 3-0.
Thursday will open with six losers-bracket matches followed by the winners-bracket quarterfinals.
Losers-bracket matchups:
–Raptors Uprising GC vs. Knicks Gaming
–Cavs Legion GC vs. NBL Oz Gaming
–Bucks Gaming vs. Kings Guard Gaming
–NetsGC vs. T-Wolves Gaming
–Warriors Gaming Squad vs. Celtics Crossover Gaming
–Winner of Raptors/Knicks vs. winner of Cavs/NBL
Winners-bracket quarterfinals:
–Pistons GT vs. Magic Gaming
–Gen.G Tigers vs. Rim Runners
–Grizz Gaming vs. Lakers Gaming
–76ers GC vs. Jazz Gaming
–Field Level Media
