BREAKING DOWN HORNETS VENOM’S 4-2 START TO THE 2020 NBA 2K LEAGUE SEASON

After six best-of-three remote play series to start the 2020 NBA 2K League campaign, Hornets Venom GT heads into a bye week with an impressive 4-2 record in its first year of existence. There’s plenty to unpack from a statistical standpoint from the last four weeks, including some trends that has the team hopefully primed for more success in the near future.

Balanced Play Standing Out

Through 14 total games this season (9-5), Hornets Venom has yet to have a single player record a 30-point game, an encouraging sign of the offensive distribution. Guard Justin “Snubby” Stemerman (5), forward Zaeya “Zae” Ishak (4), guard Alex “Expose” Whelan (4) and center Xavier “Type” Vescovi (4) all have at least four 20-point games and forward Gio “Trap” Elizondo is coming off his first double-digit scoring performance of the year.

Snubby (19.1 PPG), Zae (15.8), Type (15.4) and Expose (15.3) are all averaging at least 15.0 PPG this season. All five starters are also dishing out multiple assists on a nightly basis with Type (6.8) leading the way in this particular category (had a season-high 12 assists in Game 1 vs. Knicks Gaming on May 26).

Young Roster Fitting Together Perfectly

 Head Coach Lawrence “BiggWest” West turned some heads prior to the team’s opening game on May 6 by moving Expose to the two-guard spot and putting Snubby at the point. It took a few games for the two to get adjusted, but the backcourt is quickly gaining confidence. Expose is averaging 23.5 PPG on 66.7 percent shooting over his last four outings and Snubby just notched his two highest assist totals of the season (8 and 7 vs. Knicks Gaming).

Likewise, Type and Zae have emerged as one of the top frontcourts in the entire league, both showing the ability to score, rebound, pass and defend at an impressive well-rounded level. Trap compliments the two units extremely well, regularly guarding the opposing team’s top player and knocking down three-point attempts at a 45.5 percent clip (10-of-22).

Hanging with the 2K League’s Best

 The team’s only losses this season have come to a pair of squads that currently hold a combined record of 11-1 in Raptors Uprising GC (6-0; 12-2) and Wizards District Gaming (5-1; 11-3). Hornets Venom took one game from Toronto thanks to a memorable buzzer-beating three-pointer by Expose and dropped both contests against Washington by just nine total points (one in overtime).

 3-Point Shooting Starting to Ramp Up

Hornets Venom averaged a mere 3.8 three-point field goal through its first 12 games (five series) of the season before knocking down 9-of-16 and 11-of-13 long-distance shots against Knicks Gaming. Expose has drained all but one of his last 11 three-point attempts (90.1 percent over four games) and Zae went 9-of-13 combined from behind the arc against New York.

Much like with any traditional basketball game, having the ability to space the floor is critical to a team’s offensive success in the 2K League. Continuing to go toe-to-toe with teams like Raptors Uprising, Blazer 5 Gaming or T-Wolves Gaming means being able to score in multiple facets.

The Offense’s Magic Number

Hornets Venom is a perfect 6-0 this season when scoring at least 70 points and just 3-5 when finishing under this threshold. Through May 28, the team ranks fourth in the NBA 2K League in scoring (70.8 PPG) trailing only Raptors Uprising (79.9), Blazer 5 Gaming (73.5) and Warriors Gaming Squad (72.8), all of whom are still undefeated (15-0; 30-6).

Winning the Turnover Battle

Turnovers in an NBA 2K League game seem to hold more weight than a normal NBA contest with quarters being half as long and consequently, the number of total possessions reduced. Hornets Venom is averaging just 9.0 giveaways per game, forcing 13.6 (4.6 differential) and holds a 6-0 mark when the opponent coughs it up at least 15 times.

This offense is at its best when in transition, much of which is the byproduct of forcing lots of turnovers and live-ball rebounding. Having a multitude of players who can all handle the ball, facilitate and knock down shots just makes the scoring that much more potent.

by Sam Perley

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