Raptors Uprising advance to first-ever semifinals after sweep of Bucks Gaming at THE TIPOFF

TORONTO, Canada—One through five.

A solid team effort helped lift Raptors Uprising GC over Bucks Gaming (2-0 series), as Toronto’s professional NBA 2K League team continued their dominant run of play at THE TIPOFF tournament Thursday night.

After feeling out the opening 12 minutes, Raptors Uprising (6-0 in the tournament) would find their feet defensively in the opening game of the night, coming up with a few timely steals leading to several easy transition buckets. The freebies would help Toronto go on a 16-2 run to open the second quarter and head into halftime with a 37-28 lead.

Bucks Gaming, the winners of Group 5, would push back and make things interesting after the halftime interval, cutting their deficit to within one, but Kenny Got Work and Sick One had an answer for Raptors Uprising.

Toronto’s two retained players in Season 3 would lead the charge after a timeout as Raptors Uprising rallied with nine-straight points. The team from the North would eventually take the opening game of the series (84-64), moving them one win within their first-ever semifinal berth.

Put it in a museum. #RTZ2K pic.twitter.com/nVyRATcNiq

— Raptors Uprising GC (@RaptorsGC) June 19, 2020

Kenny scored 31 points and added nine assists in Game 1, while Sick had another monster performance, posting 20 points, 15 rebounds, six assists and three steals. His brother, power forward Legit 973 also pulled down 10 rebounds while providing excellent help defence on the wing and in the post.

Bucks Gaming point guard Regg, meanwhile, who averaged 37.0 points and 8.8 assists in the group stage, was humbled by Raptors Uprising lock Timelycook. He finished with just 19 points—coughing up the ball a game-high 10 times. Timely, on the other hand, added 18 points for his side on top of the four steals he was rewarded for stifling defence.

Raptors Uprising (9-0 in the regular season) would carry their momentum into Game 2, as all five starters would get in on the action.

A green from sharpshooting small forward ReeceMode helped kick-start things, as the team jumped out to an early 14-2 lead and never looked back.

Even when they weren’t hitting everything down the stretch, centre Sick One was there to clean up the mess or dish it back out to one of his teammates—any one of his teammates—for an open look. In fact, all five Raptors Uprising players would finish in double-digit scoring as the team would take Game 2 (90-65) and conclude the two-game sweep.

That @KennyGotWork & @Sick_x_973 connection. #RTZ2K pic.twitter.com/MJyp4H2BDv

— Raptors Uprising GC (@RaptorsGC) June 19, 2020

Kenny ended the night with a 28-point, 10-assist double-double, while Legit 973 had one of his best games of the season, finishing with 13 points, nine rebounds, plus a perfect three-for-three shooting from downtown.

Sick One also notched his sixth double-double in as many games and ReeceMode and Timelycook combined for 39 points and 14 assists to support Kenny in the backcourt.

With the win, Raptors Uprising advance to their first-ever semifinals and secure at least $20,000 USD in prize money as the team has the opportunity to add to that Friday evening when they take on Season 3 expansion side Gen. G Tigers of Shanghai.

The total prize pool will be shared among the final four teams of the tournament (first place – $70,000; second place – $50,000; third and fourth place – $20,000 each).
Jazz Gaming and Kings Guard Gaming advanced on the other side of the bracket and will face off in the other semifinal matchup. The final will take place later Friday night.

UP NEXT: Raptors Uprising and Gen. G Tigers (4-4) will exchange pleasantries for the very first time in THE TIPOFF semifinals Friday night. Gen. G, the first NBA 2K League franchise based outside of North America, are the only other unbeaten team in the tournament, playing their games out of Gen. G’s Los Angeles HQ. Luckily for Raptors Uprising, as the higher seed, they are the home team in this international matchup. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. EST and, as always, you can catch all of the action on Twitch.