*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."
After Croatia's long-fought match against Russia on Saturday, the team may not have the stamina to beat England this week. "Croatia's had to play two very long 120-minute games followed by penalty shootouts," says Mike Murphy, deputy editor at Quartz. "That'll work in England's favor."
With the Golden State Warriors signing its fifth All-Star, some wonder whether the league has forever changed. "I just miss the days when guys would compete against each other ... Now with the world we live in, there's so much pressure on these kids to win," Shaquille O'Neal told Cheddar.
The basketball star, who has been DJing since the 80s, tells Cheddar that he initially decided to start spinning after attending a Public Enemy concert and meeting Chuck D and Terminator X. "I got enough money to go to the pawn shop, get some turntables and taught myself how to DJ." His "Summer of Shaq" tour began June 9 and runs through August 5.
The basketball superstar took over Cheddar's Slack channel to tell the team to "BE NICE" and "TAKE MONDAY OFF."
Facebook is in talks to launch a 13-episode series about the Portuguese soccer star for its Facebook Watch platform. It's reported Ronaldo could make $10 million from the series but it's unclear if Facebook's investment in original content would turn into viewers, says Taylor Lorenz, a staff writer at The Atlantic.
Tomorrow's match will pit five-time World Cup champion Brazil against Belgium, which Quartz reporter Mike Murphy says is "the most exciting team at the World Cup." The quarterfinal game kicks off at 2 pm ET on Friday.
Matthew Nordgren, a former Philadelphia Eagle and founder of the Arcadian Fund, drew inspiration from his father, also a former pro, to help weed start-ups grow into businesses of a "championship caliber," he tells Cheddar.
After signing a $154 million contract with the L.A. Lakers, some are wondering if the basketball legend has some ulterior motives in moving to the West Coast. “I think he’s primarily going to become a dominant producing force and maybe becomes an Oprah-type person, who launches his own channel,” Sean O’Connell, managing editor at Cinemablend tells Cheddar.
Russia's shocking win over Spain in the Round of 16 got the team one step closer to its first ever World Cup championship. But while there's still a lot of game left to be played, The Banter's Jeffrey Marcus says, regardless of the outcome, President Vladimir Putin has already achieved his goal.
While many soccer fans will be tuning into the round of 16 starting this weekend, some are still not over the ultimate loss — the United States not participating. However, Jeffery Marcus, publisher at the Banter, tells Cheddar he thinks that for the U.S. to have a solid chance at a 2022 World Cup, it's a matter of "finding better players and nurturing them."
