Raptors Uprising remain undefeated after strong team effort vs. Grizz Gaming

TORONTO, Canada—Raptors Uprising GC continued their hot start to the season on Tuesday night, opening Week 2 with a convincing (2-0 series) win over Grizz Gaming.

Memphis native Kenny Got Work, who was the league’s Week 1 Player of the Week, once again led the way for Raptors Uprising against his hometown team, scoring a combined 54 points on 23-of-33 shooting from the floor.

“It feels great,” said Kenny Got Work. “We’ve been playing [together] for years now and we’re a team that’s used to winning. It feels good for it to translate onto the big stage.”

Sick One, meanwhile, continued his hot start to the season, as the centre was a dominant presence all over the court for Toronto, recording his third triple-double of the year, despite going head-to-head with Season 1 NBA 2K League champion G O O F Y 7 5 7. He showed once again why he is one of the premiere big men in the game.

But it was an overall team effort on both ends of the court that really separated these two teams on Tuesday evening, as all five Raptors Uprising (3-0) players would score at least 14 points in the team’s first win of the night.

First it would be the new talent that would shine, as Toronto would take Game 1 (98-61) thanks to the offensive contributions they would get from their rookies.

With Grizz Gaming forced to pay close attention to Kenny at point guard, ReeceMode and Legit 973 were given more space—and they made them pay. The two first-year players would step up to the plate when asked, hitting several big shots along the way, combining to notch 34 points and 10 assists on 12-of-17 shooting from the floor.

Grizz Gaming were actually keeping pace with Raptors Uprising GC early on, large in part to their point guard Vandi, who recorded a game-high 33 points in Game 1. However, after Raptors Uprising took a 30-29 lead at the 2:03 mark of the second quarter, there was no catching up, as Toronto would go on to win the opening game by 37 points.

Raptors Uprising would carry over their momentum into Game 2, as another solid team effort would propel Toronto to victory (84-62) after jumping out to an early lead.

How many greens @ReeceMode_? How many? #RTZ2K pic.twitter.com/ZYNJ7LYdu1

— Raptors Uprising GC (@RaptorsGC) May 13, 2020

In the backcourt, sharpshooter ReeceMode once again made noise, putting up his second 20-point effort of the evening, while Sick One had another monster performance with 12 points, 19 rebounds, eight assists, four steals and five blocks.

With the win, Raptors Uprising move into sole possession of first place in the NBA 2K League and improve to 3-0 lifetime versus Grizz Gaming.

For the second straight week, Tuesday’s matchup was televised across Canada on Sportsnet and ESPN in the United States.

UP NEXT: Raptors Uprising GC will take on the new kids on the block: 2020 expansion side Hornets Venom GT, who like Toronto, opened their season at 2-0. They’re led by Week 1 Player of the Week nominee Type at centre, but a tough matchup down low hasn’t slowed down Sick One and the rest of his Raptors Uprising team so far. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. EST and you can stream it on Twitch.