Knicks SI 2K20 fantasy tournament: Patrick Ewing helps Team Lauren prevail in Game 1
Welcome to the Knicks SI 2K20 Fantasy Tournament, in which eight of our writers drafted every Knick available to us in NBA 2K20 in order to simulate a winner-take-all single-elimination bracket of the greatest players to ever dawn the blue-and-orange. We will be posting results, interviews with the general managers and accompanying highlights with every game. Please note that if any jersey numbers that seem off or any players that weren't drafted end up getting minutes, it was due to a limitation in the game. Enjoy!
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Amar'e Stoudemire put on a Knicks jersey for the first time in the Summer of 2010, when the city was abuzz over a star of his caliber deciding to take on the challenge of rebuilding the franchise. He owned the five boroughs in that moment, and the future seemed limitless. His first (half) season actually lived up to the expectations, as the Knicks stormed to an eventual postseason appearance behind Stoudemire's athleticism and sweet touch.
Everything seemed to get worse for Stoudemire since, capped by one of the worst performances of the Fantasy Tournament, a 5-for-17 shooting night against Team Lauren's fearsome twin towers of Patrick Ewing and Kristaps Porzingis. Ewing showed the struggling Stoudemire what a real savior looks like, putting up a monster 36 points and 31 rebounds.
"I would say he was unstoppable," Lauren Russell said of Ewing. But of her opponent, Alex Wolfe?
"I'll say good try."
Team Alex failed to put up a real fight, falling behind early and never mounting a challenge.
"I'm not surprised Amar'e struggled against an actually amazing center in Patrick Ewing," Wolfe said. "Nor surprised that old man LJ bodied fake center KP and dropped 27-14-6 while holding him to a fairly typical post-November 8-for-22 shooting line."
Johnson was the lone bright spot for Team Alex, with his backcourt finishing with a near-negative assist-to-turnover ratio. Though Wolfe didn't expect to get very far in this tournament, he took pride in one job his team did in this matchup.
"Elfrid Payton fouled out," Wolfe said. "I'll call that a win."
Lauren cited Payton's lackluster shooting as the biggest thing she needed her team to improve on.
"Let's get Elf efficient with his shot," Russell said.
Here are the box scores of the simulated result:
Team Lauren
Team Alex
Next up in the 2020 Knicks SI 2K tournament, Team Chris goes up against Team Verts.
