Grizz Gaming prepares for Week 3 Doubleheader

Grizz Gaming (1-1) will play two regular season games in Week 3, it’s first of two such weeks this season, when the squad heads back to New York to face Kings Guard Gaming at 3 p.m. CT on Saturday followed by a 6 p.m. CT tilt against Jazz Gaming.

Preparation will be different this week with multiple games to play. The team was guaranteed four pre-scheduled games at THE TIPOFF, but with little material available to prep with there wasn’t much to do but focus on its own agenda.

“Twice as much work to put in, twice as much video to watch and twice as much of a workload for us to be ready,” said Grizz Gaming General Manager Lang Whitaker. “It’s going to be a long day Saturday. We fly to New York early Saturday morning and we play at four, then again at seven. It’s a long day for all of us. We’ve talked about pacing ourselves during the day, trying to get as much sleep during the day as we can. After that four o’clock game we have to be ready to bounce back and come play at seven also.”

In game one, Memphis’ team will have to account for an effective inside-out combo in timelycook (Eric Donald) at point guard (15.6 ppg, 12.4 apg, 2.4 spg) and worthingcolt (Jhade Black) at center (19.2 ppg, 10.0 rpg) for Kings Guard Gaming.

“We’re going to defend as well we can,” said Whitaker. “I think with the Kings we’re also looking at the tempo. They play with a lot of pace, full-court pressure to try to push the tempo in their favor. The one thing we’ve found is that when we control the tempo, that’s when we’re at our best. We’re really working hard, especially against them, to have the tempo in our favor.

After Grizz Gaming dropped a 62-52 decision to Cavs Legion GC in Week 2, Kings Guard also played Cavs Legion GC in Week 2 and fell 78-63.

Jazz Gaming will enter the final game of league play for the evening with a 2-1 record and plenty of common opponents. In Week 1, Utah dropped a nail biter to Kings Guard (68-66) while defeating Cavs Legion 59-51.

Additional to Kings Guard, Jazz Gaming has an inside-out combo of its own at point guard and center. Yeah I Compete (Shaka Browne) currently averages 15.4 points and 10.9 assists per game at the point while MrSlaughter01 (Malik Leisinger) is posting 17.6 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.0 blocks per game.

“They also have a really good inside-out combo,” said Whitaker. “Slaughter in the middle and Compete outside are two of the best at their positions. We focus on what we can focus on, which is defense, tempo and controlling the paint. If we do those three things, I feel like that gives us our best chance to win in every game we play.”

Double the games means double the prep. And while there are sure to be different little nuances between both opponents, there won’t be much contrast at the least. Fans can live stream the game at twitch.com/nba2kleague.