*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."
These are the headlines you Need2Know for Thursday.
Omar Raja, the founder of Bleacher Report's House of Highlights Instagram, said social media is "a young person's television," and that professional sports leagues have been reaching out to him to help them bolster the audience for live sports.
These are the headlines you Need2Know.
These are the headlines you Need2Know.
Fitness platform ClassPass raised $85 million in new funding, bringing its total amount raised to $255 million. CEO Fritz Lanman breaks down his expansion plans and why Classpass wants to be your one-stop shop for both fitness and wellness.
Alex Betancourt, Sole North American competitor in the 2018 FIFA eWorld Cup, sat down with MLS's Senior Director of Properties and Cheddar anchors to discuss the challenges facing eSports--and the potential for e-games to triumph as The Grand Finale looms.
eSports are growing rapidly and fans are spending hours upon hours streaming their favorites. Pete Giorgio, Lead of U.S. Sports at Deloitte, explains the sudden growth in the industry and what more traditional leagues can learn from eSports.
The Cheddar Sports crew caught up with Tucker Roberts, President of the Philadelphia Fusion, and Joe Marsh, the team's CFO, to discuss the rapid growth of esports and how it's reaching the "unreachable" demographic.
Baker Machado met with Tucker Roberts, President of Philadelphia Fusion and Joe Marsh, CFO of Philadelphia Fusion to talk the team's success, their chances this weekend and the league overall.
Nicole Carpenter, Reporter at Dot, claims the ESPN esports deal is responsible for the spike in Overwatch League viewership. Carpenter predicts on Cheddar the Philly Fusion will emerge the victor this Friday at the finals.
