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NEW YORK — It’s a feeling every gamer is dreading. NBA 2K19 is just around the corner, and as is always the case when the new game drops, people will hop online to play against strangers in all corners of the world. When gamers get that opportunity, something is bound to occur, and every time, it’s infuriating.
The other person is going to try to use the Golden State Warriors.
Heading into the 2018-19 NBA season, the Dubs possess a collection of talent that no other team can match, at least in its starting five. Golden State has the two best shooters to ever live in Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, perhaps the best scorer on earth in Kevin Durant, and this year, Draymond Green will get some help in the front court in the form of DeMarcus Cousins, who might be the best center alive. Green is the lowest-rated player in their starting five. He’s an 87.
It’s an embarrassment of riches, and depending on how prideful you are in your abilities when you play 2K, using them online is a straight-up embarrassment. Regardless, this is going to pop up every now and then, so when your opponent picks the Warriors, what should you do? For Knicks Gaming guard Adam Kudeimati, the smartest thing might be to get out of there before you take an L.
“If you match up with the Warriors, you’re backing out of the lobby,” Kudeimati says while laughing. “That’s the first thing.”
It’s been quite the whirlwind of a week for Kudeimati and the rest of his Knicks Gaming teammates. Last weekend, the team won the inaugural NBA 2K League championship, sweeping their best-of-three series against Heat Check Gaming. Kudeimati, aka IamAdamthe1st, dropped a team-high 34 points in their 69-66 Game 1 victory, then followed things up with a 12-point, 12-assist performance in the team’s 74-71 win in Game 2, one which saw them overcome a double-digit second half deficit to lift the title.
Now, the team is at the NBA Store operated by Fanatics in New York City, the latest in what has been an all-out media blitz for the team. It’s hard not to be compelled by their story: Knicks Gaming was as close as you’ll get to an ultimate underdog, as they came in a tie for 14th among the league’s 17 teams during the regular season. However, despite their 5-9 record, the team earned a spot in the playoffs by winning The Ticket, a late season tournament in which the winners earned an automatic postseason berth. Kudeimati was the tournament’s MVP.
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“The 5-9 record is super misleading,” Kudeimati says. “It’s weird, it’s like it’s the regular season and for some reason we just didn’t perform to our capabilities, I don’t know what it was. It’s almost as if we needed that incentive … ‘Alright, if you win this tournament, you’re in the playoffs’ or ‘If you win this, you win the championship.’ It’s like we need that push, and it’s weird. But just the drive that we have where, we knew going into The Ticket, our record was terrible, and you know what? It’s either we win this tournament or we’re going home in early-August, and we stepped up when it mattered most.”
In a way, there’s not a better group of people to ask about overcoming major obstacles in the 2K universe than the guys from Knicks Gaming. For them, it was winning a ring. For those of us who play more casually, it’s trying to figure out how to take down the virtual Warriors. Kudeimati thinks he has an idea of what gamers need to do. Offensively it’s easy: Go out there and try to score as many points as possible. On the other side of the ball, you have to make your opponent uncomfortable.
“If you wanna beat a team like the Warriors, you’re probably gonna want to play a lot of high-pressure defense, you don’t wanna let Steph Curry get open, you don’t want him to shoot,” Kudeimati says, even though he admits that gameplan still has a flaw, in that the Warriors still have Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson. Still, to beat them, ramping up the pressure might be your best bet.
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Or, if you ask Nate Kahl — aka NateKahl, the MVP of the Finals for his defensive efforts on Heat Check Gaming star Hotshot, the league’s second-best scorer — the answer is far more simple.
“Get LeBron,” Kahl says through a smile. “That’s my best advice. Get LeBron.”
It’s up in the air whether the “get LeBron” strategy will work in the Los Angeles Lakers’ quest to take down the two-time defending champions, and it’s up in the air whether that’ll work in NBA 2K19.
If that doesn’t work, and something as strategic as ramping up the defensive pressure doesn’t work, Dayvon Curry might have the best idea of them all. Curry, aka G O O F Y 7 5 7, was Knicks Gaming’s star big man this season, and established himself as the best offensive rebounder in the world when he’s on the sticks.
In his eyes, if your opponent tries going into a game with the Dubs, there’s only one thing to do: Turn to the Lord and hope everything works out.
“Man, it’s gonna be hard to stop this Warriors squad this year,” Curry says. “Pray for the best and go out there and play your heart out.”
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