SAN ANTONIO — The competitive nature of any pro-sports level reaches across the board.
Whether it be a player contesting a foul call, an NBA head coach asking the refs for an in-game review, or a fiery post-game rant about how a game is officiated by a player or a coach is not uncommon.
And that even extends to the NBA 2K League.
During a recent Raptors Uprising GC and Blazer5 Gaming three-game tournament series, in game two a server malfunctioned during the game which caused a stoppage of play during a critical moment for the Raptors.
Once the game was restored, questions about which team had possession, if the game should be replayed completely, or if the period should be reset by the Raptors head coach Roy Krishnan.
However, the game moved ahead and swung in favor of Blazer5 Gaming resulting in not only a game loss for the Raptors but a series loss as well. In addition, it was also a considerable financial loss of $30,000 in prize money according to Krishan.
Krishnan filed a formal complaint and requested the game be replayed in its entirety, or the half be replayed, even just the period be replayed at the moment the server went out with the NBA 2K League.
However, the complaint was overruled by the league.
In this Q&A, Krishnan wants to speak on what he believes was an unfair moment in the game as well as his thoughts on the league declining his request for a replay and more.
Before continuing, the NBA 2K League did release a statement regarding their decision:
Following a thorough review of the facts, the NBA 2K League has determined that, following a crash, the second game of the Raptors Uprising GC vs. Blazer5 Gaming three-game series was restarted correctly. The results of the game stand.
Jeff: You filed a complaint with the league regarding how the game was handled due to a crash and the restart, and a possession that perhaps was miscalled and given to the Blazer5.
Roy: I want to shout out first and foremost, Blazer5 Gaming. They're a rebuilding team and I don't think this takes away from their moment at all.
And I want to just commend them on advancing to the stage for the first time all season, they did a great job over there and flowers are still due no matter what and how the outcomes may lead.
So essentially what happened was in a tie game, a must-win elimination game to secure playoff spots for both us in the Eastern Conference and Blazer5 Gaming in the Western Conference, a connection error occurred and this connection error is not uncommon.
We are an Eastern server-playing team. Blazer5 Gaming is a Western server-playing team. To negate the advantages of the servers, we were playing on a central server.
So often, unfortunately, just the realm of esports, but especially the underdeveloped servers in the NBA2K league are playing on a non-home server, it's not their home server, and it's not our home server, which will result in a disconnect.
The contention we had with the decision was where to resume the point of play.
And what I mean by that is we believe that the point of play should have ended with their lockdown defender shooting a severely heavily contested shot over our lockdown defender.
I'm a data guy, I'm an engineer, and I pride myself on the numbers. I know how many shots have been taken over lockdown defenders by lockdown defenders this year. The league has that sample size, but zero of them have gone in. So I'm not too worried about the outcome.
I was worried about the due process of how we got to that scenario. Like I said, the league, they're a small staff. I understand that. I understand it's a growing league, an emerging league with a lot of turnover. They don't often have a lot of key decision-makers in the same role for five years. So the idea of interpretation often takes over without a standard, if you will. And that's why I'm worried about the process.
(Khrishan details the league's interpretation of the critical moment)
They said the Blazers had it with two seconds at half-court. We said, "Well, we have direct evidence just because the last point of the game was before they crashed, where their lock shot it over our lock."
And essentially, the 2K League is allowed to do its internal reviews and come to its own conclusions. But I was disappointed to hear that the due process for this is just a couple of people saying, "Oh, how do we feel?" And I feel in a professional sports league, we have to be able to take emotion out of it. For example, there has to be a parameter given.
Of the 55 shots, lock over lock shots this year, zero have gone in.
However, the crash was occurring pre-shot or something like that. And I just feel in a situation that has such high stakes for us as I've detailed, the winner of this game essentially went to the playoffs in their respective conference.
That's a roughly $30,000 payout from both The Turn and the playoffs for both our and their guys. That's a lot of money.
There has to be some kind of due process, a rule book, a handbook, something that needs to be circulated before the season instead of just, "Hey, we're going to make it up as we go." And that's my main takeaway from this is sometimes on coin flips, you're going to end up on the losing side and that's just life.
But you want to know what's going into the decision and the decision-making instead of just this is the way it is and these are the people that make the decisions.
Jeff: We spoke early in the season and you said one of your goals for the club this year was to get them making money and although your season's not over, we'll talk about that later, this was a big financial blow, wasn't it?
Roy: A huge financial blow!
And you look at it just in terms of control and ownership. As a coach and a player, I know esports and I think for all your fans out there, you'll see how eSports so closely parallels real sports. You want to be able to own the loss.
And I say 70% of the loss is our fault and the other 30% in this situation just so happens to fall in the league. But I want to own all 100%. I want to sit there and tell our guys they were the better team tonight and I wasn't able to do that unfortunately. And that takes away from the game.
No decision should ever be swung by the league and being an engineer itself, there's a win probability model I used actually, the ESPN win probability model, we've all seen it. I know everyone sees it down the stretch of seasons. A team comes back from a crazy upset. They're like, "Man, they had a 90% chance of winning and they blew it." In a tie game going into the fourth quarter, it was 50:50, a tie game going into the fourth quarter.
Whatever team starts with possession in that quarter or ends with possession in the third quarter, essentially whatever team has an extra possession, it goes from 50:50 to 52:48 and 2% or 4% in this situation wouldn't be such a big deal.
However, through a decision-making process, we have created a 4% difference and we've articulated a clear favorite and a nonfavorite. And why I say that's such a big deal and it almost sounds somewhat abstract, is 2% not that big of a deal, 4% not that big of a deal, but through a decision that we have made as a league, we have now created an extra possession and created a favorite. And that should never happen when there were decisions to be taken that would've kept it at 50:50 if you will.
And that's my major gripe. There were three options for the league.
He (Blazer5 Gaming player) shot the ball over the lock, the league maintained the crash happened before. We were down to say, "Okay, the crash happened before. Two seconds to Blazer Gaming." They get an extra two-hundredths of a second, but you can't put them in the backcourt. You have to put them where he shot the ball, which is in the sideline out of bounds deep in the front court in the corner pocket, and the scoring rate in the NBA 2K League, it's about 45% from the top of the key and it's about 32% in the back corner on the fast break when the lock has the ball.
So we're already artificially creating these scenarios, already artificially increasing the likelihood of them scoring by us giving them a little bit more time. So you have to decrease the likelihood somewhere else.
Basically what I'm asking for as a statistician, as a math guy, as an analytics guy, as one of these future-facing coaches is the game ended with a 50% win rate for each team, a tie game. There needs to be a scenario produced that creates a 50% win scenario for each team instead of a decision not made on math, not made on facts, not made on analytics, swinging the favorite by 2% and 4% for the losing team. That's all I ask and these things happen in esports, but they need to be rooted in fact and basis.
Jeff: How quickly did you hear back from the league from them? Did you get any explanation in the response to the complaint?
Roy: I will commend the league here.
We got to meet the following afternoon and talk about just what their decision-making went into the event. And that's where I learned that it's just a guy that makes a decision, a person that makes a ruling. And we all have inherent biases and that's why I wasn't happy with the explanation, it can't be just one person making a ruling.
It has to be this broad base of numbers-people, several people, a back and forth, an A scenario B scenario, C scenario considering the win percentages, all these types of things to avoid these types of situations or there has to be a circular before the season.
A manager's handbook saying in the event of a crash, the game will pick up at the last dead ball possession, which I can't argue with because it hasn't happened to me yet. So there's no chance to play favorites there.
Sometimes you end up being the favorite, sometimes you end up not being the favorite, but over the course of the season, and it's a long season, it's a seven-month season, it's going to even out.
It happens to you once, but you get it once. And if it's circulated before the season, it leaves no interpretation for misuse. But also as a coach, there was a 12-minute delay. Game crashes.
I can tell my guys, "Hey, it's going to pick up at the last dead ball timeout. Let's just be ready. Unfortunately, that happened, but let's just be ready." I'm not waiting for these vague pluralities in how we continue the game. It takes away from players, takes away from coaches, especially when we know we're coaching for tens of thousands of dollars out there and they're playing for tens of thousands of dollars out there.
Jeff: Well the good news is that your season is not over despite the series loss to the Blazer5. Your team is in the NBA 2K League Play In aka The Ticket tournament scenario there.
Tell us about that. How are things looking?
Roy: It's (Blazer5 series loss) a tough thing to stomach. We have three-ish rookies, three and a half rookies on this team. One was a conditional player last year, so three and a half rookies on this team that they've probably never lost or felt like they've lost a virtual basketball game in that manner before.
And it's a tough thing to stomach. Taking control of anything. When you lose control, whether it's basketball or life, you're not happy about it when you have circumstances outside your control.
We've got to win three games in a row to be able to qualify for the playoffs. So nothing crazy. There's a $50,000 payout at the end of The Ticket tournament as well.
I did win the ticket as a member of Mavs Gaming last year as an assistant coach. So I've done it before and I've seen no reason we can't do it again. And we're just starting Monday, we'll start getting ready and testing out new schemes and formulas, and hopefully be able to make a competitive run and put some money in the guy's pockets and get ourselves a spot in the playoffs.
Jeff: Do you have a message for the Raptors GC fans?
Roy: The fans have been great. They've stuck with us all year. We've played high-leverage games for the first time in Toronto in two years. I love the fans. I meet them at events all the time and they tell me it's fun to be watching. It sucks to lose, but it's fun to be watching and there's nothing more I love than that. I try not to choke up. But the fans, they deserve this. The city of Toronto loves sports and to be competitive again!
That's why we watch sports, that's why we love sports and I'm happy with the progress we've made and hopefully, we continue to make progress.
In terms of the league, I just have to say we got to do better. I know how hard it is to run a league. Daniel Tsay became the CoD League lead operative after the 2K League. Brad Ross became the Overwatch League lead operative after the 2K League.
And my plea is just, if you want successful individuals who want to push this league to greater heights, to stay in this league, you have to hire the right people. You have to invest in the right people. I know it's a small team, I know it's a small budget in the NBA 2K League. We have to do right by our players.
The players haven't gotten a pay raise in four years. We got rid of the Sixth Man. Inflation went up, but their salaries are the same. A bunch of things need to happen to complement our players better because this is not a league without our players. And the decision-making process, the salary process, all these types of things.
One thing can go wrong, and two things can go wrong, but this many things cannot go wrong. And I urge the league to do better, do right by the players, do right by the people that want to advance it, do right by the people that could be anywhere else, making a whole lot more money doing something else, but choose to be here every single day putting in the work, laying the fabric for this to be a great league.
So I hope they look at this and they say, "You know what? We might have screwed up here just in terms of transparency and ability and that's okay. People make mistakes, leagues make mistakes, let's not make it again."
That's my wish and my want for the NBA 2K League moving forward.
The NBA 2K League Playoffs are heating up and San Antonio Spurs fans can follow Raptors GC by visiting the official team's Twitter page to catch all the action. The team will be in The Ticket tournament on July 28.
Twitter: @KENS5, @JeffGSpursKENS5