What. Just. Happened? A Recap Of Round 1.

If you asked me to sum up the LGBA in 1 week of gameplay, I’d show you this week. Of the four series played, only 1 did not feature a forfeit(s). And that was the Suns and the Bulls, where the Bulls swept Phoenix. Congrats to them, but I want to talk about the other 3 series with some actual drama, so let’s get into it.


Also, a disclaimer. I’m writing this based on what I’ve been told about the situations. Obviously misinformation can be spread, but I feel I have gotten the stories right to the point where I can write about them. Now, to the content.



We’ll start with the Mavs forfeiting to GSW. I haven’t heard much about the situation other than Tom apparently quit. The Mavs hadn’t really been engaged all season anyway, often putting in stats up to a week late. Which is quite ironic given how much confidence Hoodie TKO was showing post bidding. But anyway, after winning game 1 on a buzzer beater, the Mavs will go on to lose this series, 3-1.



Now this is where the REAL drama begins. Wolves vs Raptors. The Raptors threw out a sub par line Wednesday in hopes that line stacking could get them to a game 5. The Wolves dominated in game 1, but then the chaos began. A screenshot of Wolves player Nexus’ (who has a S) account on someone’s else’s X was sent to league management. Management caught word that it wasn’t Nexus’ console, and everything went crazy. In the end, the Wolves FF’d game 2 and the following punishments were announced by staff in the discord: “2 Game playoff suspension for all 3 (Nexus for lying about his console, Jiggy for providing the falsified proof, and Ching admitting that his console was used in the falsified proof) involved.” As for what I think about the situation, TC’s always seem to be at the center of the problem, so something has to be changed about that system. What the Wolves did was shady, and even if they just “wanted to play” like they said, there were definitely better ways to go about trying to play rather than completely lying about someone’s console and sending fake evidence like they’re trying to finesse the federal government. Either way, the problem is resolved and everyone seems to have moved on. The Wolves went on to win games 3 & 4, almost making this null.


But guess what folks, it didn’t end there! Bucks vs 76ers, let’s get into it. This started off how one would expect. Marquis and Sahrento took care of the 6ers Wednesday, and the Bucks had PG Comeup and PG Kasra ready on Thursday, to try to steal a game. They didn’t steal a game. So here we are, game 5, the biggest game of the season so far for these teams. And.... The Bucks can’t gather 5. Sahrento and a couple others are playing BYOT’s and the Bucks are forced to request a reschedule. But, the 76ers didn’t come here for a reschedule. Their guys are reportedly busy the rest of the week. So, as they technically can given the rules, they take their forfeit win. This, as you could guess, sent half the Bucks team into the discord chat. The Bucks felt a reschedule should have been done and there’s no way 5 people from the 76ers wouldn’t be available by Tuesday. 76ers owner, Mecciah, told the Bucks he was going to be “weird” about the rules and he was, so at least he was honest about it. I talked to 6ers GM SubxForce about it, and he said he wanted and was excited to play the Bucks and matchup against Marquis that night. But, the team simply couldn’t field 5 the rest of the way outside of tonight, so they had to take the forfeit win. So, now for my thoughts. As for the Bucks, to have Marquis and Sahrento playing BYOT’s the night of a possible game 5 is something they maybe could’ve managed, but I doubt it, so it is unlucky from that aspect. It was mentioned as a possibility that the Bucks could indeed have fielded 5, just not their best 5, and wanted to reschedule for that reason. But, screenshots were posted in chat of their players saying they weren’t available. Although, some of that is illegitimate. But I’m not here to get anyone in trouble. So, I do hope the Bucks just couldn’t field 5. Because otherwise, that’s just uncalled for and there’s nothing for them to complain about. In the end, both sides got a mute for the night, but I’m sure the war between those 2 teams is not over. 76ers advance in 5.



So there you have it, a wild week full of entertaining forfeits. All the drama aside, this many forfeits is a problem. In the 2 seasons I’ve been in LGBA, there hasn’t been one playoff week where something forfeit related doesn’t go down. Obviously the league is free so fixing problems like lack of availability is tough, but I think the league needs to become more flexible for situations like the 76ers and Bucks. Hopefully 2k22 as a whole is a better game and LG can get back on track. Anyway, there’s round 1 of the playoffs summed up by me. Round 2 is right around the corner and I’m sure there will be more craziness to come. Good luck to the Final 4.

 

Wow that was insane!!!