Atlanta Hawks’ Trae Young blasts Kings’ Harrison Barnes in NBA 2K20 tournament
Kings forward Harrison Barnes was ousted on the opening night of the NBA 2K20 Players Tournament, falling to Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young in a lopsided first-round matchup Friday on ESPN2.
Barnes, the 15th seed, was matched up against the second-seeded Young in a first-of-its-kind videogame tournament to raise money for coronavirus relief efforts. Young dominated Barnes from the opening tip, guiding the Milwaukee Bucks to a resounding 101-56 victory over the Toronto Raptors in a possible preview of the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals.
“We’re moving on to the next round,” said Young, who will play Deandre Ayton in Tuesday’s quarterfinals. “That was fun, bro.”
“Absolutely, man,” Barnes said. “Stay up. Stay healthy in this time and hopefully we’ll be back on the court soon.”
Barnes played from his home in Sacramento, still sporting the patchy beard he vowed not to shave until the Kings achieve a .500 record, a promise he made long before the coronavirus shutdown. Young played from his home in Norman, Oklahoma.
Young jumped out to a 13-2 lead in the opening minutes. Barnes staged an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to three, but Young quickly regained control. Young led 25-11 at the end of the first quarter and 44-25 at the half.
“This has been an ugly half for us,” Barnes said.
Young continued to pour it on in the second half. He led 71-39 at the end of the third quarter and went up by as many as 45 in the fourth, handing Barnes the biggest loss in the brief history of the tournament.
Barnes and Young are among 16 NBA players participating in the first-ever players-only videogame tournament on ESPN and ESPN2. The winner will receive $100,000 from the NBA, NBA Players Association and NBA2K to donate to a charity of their choice to support coronavirus relief efforts.
Each player can select eight teams to play with during the tournament, but they can only use each team once. Barnes and Young chose two of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.
The first two rounds are single elimination. The semifinals and finals will be best-of-three series.
The tournament started with a stunning upset when Derrick Jones Jr. of the Miami Heat, the 2020 NBA All-Star Weekend slam dunk champion and the No. 16 seed in the tournament, took down No. 1 seed Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets.
In the second game, Ayton, the No. 10 seed, used the Houston Rockets to defeat No. 7 seed Zach Lavine and the Miami Heat. In the final game of the night, 14th-seeded Patrick Beverley led the Milwaukee Bucks over third-seeded Hassan Whiteside and the Los Angeles Lakers.
This story was originally published April 3, 2020 at 8:07 PM.
