Knicks SI 2K20 Fantasy Tankathon: JR Smith drops 40 in loss for Team Chris

"Never felt so good to lose!"

Welcome to the Knicks SI 2K20 Fantasy Tankathon, in which eight of our writers drafted every Knick available to us in NBA 2K20 in order to simulate a loser-take-all single-elimination bracket of the worst 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!

--

The competition continues to cool off in the Knicks SI 2K20 Fantasy Tankathon, as Team Chris advances in a 112-107 loss to Team Kris despite JR Smith's 40-point performance.

"Never felt so good to lose!" Molicki said. "My G-League strategy is working, but JR Smith is trying the hardest he ever has to win."

A late-round pick selected in hopes of chucking his team to defeat, Smith also came away with six steals, but played to his defined role with a 3-14 bricklaying from deep. Team Chris's biggest boons were, as mentioned, Kenny Wooten and Ignas Brazdeikis, who couldn't find serious playing time in the real-life NBA. Here, they excelled at what Team Chris wanted out of them: seven turnovers and 9-34 shooting combined.

"If I can get Kenny Wooten's three-point volume the same as Iggy's, we're going to win this thing no doubt." Molicki said.

Team Kris went ahead 59-43 by halftime, all but sealing his win in the game and loss in the tournament. This despite RJ Barrett, one of his better players, fouling out after just 23 minutes. 

"We came close to moving on to round two again but it just didn't happen this time around," Pursiainen said. "We were able to hit our shots from deep which was a huge liability for us. RJ hits the backboard half the time in real life, how the hell did he make four out of ten??? Allonzo shooting 9-15 didn't help us either. All we do is lose and ht eone time we needed to Kadeem Allen has a near triple-double. It is what it is."

Pursiainen did his damndest to build a loser, starting Allen at center and drafting nobody above 6'7". Alas, he fell ahead.

Here are the box scores for this game, next is the last of four first-round contests in which Team Howard takes on Team Alex.

Team Kris

Team Chris