SHANGHAI – Sporting matching gray sweatsuits, the four-man New Orleans Pelicans squad had the business-like, professional look of a cohesive unit when it arrived at Thursday’s inaugural NBA2K online championships. The opposition, on the other hand? The attire of the Houston Rockets’ quartet probably could’ve been best described as “every man for himself.”
Whether it was coincidence or not, the two Southwest Division teams’ approach carried over to head-to-head, five-on-five competition, as the Pelicans methodically dissected and swept the Rockets, earning the first-ever NBA2K title. New Orleans’ group of Anthony Davis, Langston Galloway, Dante Cunningham and Buddy Hield won a best-of-three series 2-0, highlighted by a two-point win in the opener. The four Pelicans were joined by a guest teammate – an elite local 2K player from China, who drained the Game 1 decisive hoop with 2 seconds left – and were presented with a gold trophy, along with championship rings.
Davis (combined 18 points over the two abbreviated games) was named Most Valuable Player, though portions of his acceptance speech veered significantly from standard clichés.
“I got a lot of rebounds off the shots Buddy Hield missed,” Davis ribbed the rookie, after being asked by an event host to explain the keys to the 23-year-old earning MVP honors.
In a one-of-a-kind event, the Pelicans and the Rockets’ contingent of Corey Brewer, Sam Dekker, Montrezl Harrell and K.J. McDaniels played the 2K video game against each other, while using their video likenesses from the actual game. Organizers of the ultra-popular event noted that over 300,000 basketball and video-game fans in China were following the action on a live-stream broadcast, which featured hosts speaking in both Chinese and English. Inside the actual venue itself in downtown Shanghai, there were additional spectators, who cheered big dunks and highlight plays that were shown on a large projection screen. It created an atmosphere akin to an actual flesh-and-blood basketball game.
The heated competition between the Pelicans and Rockets also at times resembled the genuine article, such as when Brewer good-naturedly complained about what he deemed to be a poor officiating decision.
“I blocked that (cleanly)!” asserted the athletic swingman, when the virtual version of Brewer was whistled for a foul while simultaneously rejecting a shot by New Orleans.
