*By Jimmy Mondal*
After a tumultuous season and a disappointing 5-9 record, the New York Knicks Gaming team was at the bottom the 2K league barrel.
But clutch seems to be the team's middle name ー the Knicks Gaming squad was able to pull off not one, but two miracle runs to qualify for the NBA 2K League playoffs.
By executing a victory in the TICKET tournament and harnessing the power of the fans at New York City's NBA 2K studio, the Knicks emerged the league winners in the last quarter of the finals match.
But now the question becomes: can the team trounce their competitors a second time?
According to Jeff Eisenband, host and analyst at the NBA 2K League, it's unlikely.
"The short answer I can give you, is probably not," he told Cheddar Sports. "There are 21 teams in the league. There were 17 in year one ー these teams are all so even.”
That said, Eisenband also thinks the team has serious talent on its side, including “ four players coming back, losing the NBA \[2K League\] Finals MVP, Nate Kahl, but … iamadamthefirst is one of the prime players in the league, and a lot of people forget about Goofy757, who is probably, in my mind, the best rebounder in the league.”
As for the future of the Knicks team, Eisenband thinks burnout will be a major factor.
"They had dominated the season, but I also think there’s a sense of burnout in that they had a target on their back the whole season."
Devon Still, a former defensive end for the Cincinnati Bengals, is sharing his personal playbook ー "Still in the Game," a self help-style manual for success. Still, who retired from the NFL in 2017, told Cheddar the new book revisits his most dramatic challenges ー most notably, his daughter's cancer diagnosis.
League of Legends' Korean scene has a new look. While the region's SK Telecom T1 has remained the dominant force in competitions, other contenders threaten its position. In particular, last season saw teams like Griffin and KT Rolster take advantage of a weakened SKT T1, which missed the Worlds Finals in 2018 for the first time in several years.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2019.
TSM’s Fortnite pro Ali "Myth" Kabbani ignited a conversation last month about esports player unions when he suggested he might start one for the Fortnite community. But esports unions were on the mind of Stephen "Snoopeh" Ellis long before Kabbani pushed them into gamers' consciousness. “There’s a huge lack of education and awareness amongst players in the importance of taking their career seriously," Snoopeh told Cheddar Sports.
Esports fans tuning into Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's new show on NBC, "The Titan Games," may be surprised to see a familiar face: Alex "Goldenboy" Mendez, who is more likely as a commentator for "Overwatch" or "Halo" than for an athletic obstacle gauntlet.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2018.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Monday, Jan. 7, 2019.
Will “wiill” Sims, in-game leader of the NobleGG team that recently qualified for the NPL preseason, started gaming as a League of Legends player in 2012. But his League of Legends skills didn’t foreshadow his later esports success. Sims talked with Cheddar Sports about his unlikely path from casual gamer to PUBG pro.
It's no secret that much of the popularity of Epic Games' smash hit Fortnite comes from its status as a free-to-play game. Now, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter says two other surprising titles may make the switch: Overwatch and Call of Duty.
It's become par for the course for Epic Games to release game-changing items in Fortnite just before tournaments. Ghost Gaming's Kayuun shares his worries for what that means for competitive Fortnite.
