🔀 OTE Standings Shakeup

After a string of upsets over the last weeks, the OTE standings have tightened up, which sets up for an exciting week of action across three cities. With six games over two nights, this weekend is a pivotal time for playoff seeding 👀 (3 min read)

Author

Miles Lally
January 30, 2024

OTE Standings Shakeup

Another busy week for OTE, this time with six games over the course of two days, will kick off on Thursday evening at OTE Arena with a battle between the Diamond Doves and City Reapers at 7PM on YouTube. Four games will be played in OTE Arena in Atlanta, while there will also be a game played in Lincolnton, NC and Brooklyn, NY 🛩️

📍 Thursday - Cold Hearts vs. Blue Checks (Lincolnton, NC)

📍 Friday, 7 PM - Diamond Doves vs. RWE, Rolling Loud vs. City Reapers (OTE Arena)

📍 Friday, 8PM - YNG Dreamerz vs. Jelly Fam (Brooklyn, NY)

The first game of the week will be played between the Diamond Doves and the City Reapers, who find themselves on opposite ends of the spectrum about two-thirds of the way through the season. The Reapers are 8-4 and third in the standings, while the Doves are 1-11 and haven’t secured a win since December 10th. The two teams met once previously, with the Diamond Doves nearly pulling off the major upset before eventually falling 76-67. Look for the matchup of the Doves Jeremiah Johnson (18.6 PPG) and the Reapers Jahki Howard (14.6 PPG) to dictate the direction of the game 🏀

The second game in OTE Arena on Thursday night is set to be a fierce battle between RWE and Rolling Loud, as both teams are desperately in need of a win. RWE secured a big win last week over the Blue Checks thanks to Karter Knox, who won his first OTE Player of the Week award as a result of his 32 points in the win 🏹

In the most recent game for Rolling Loud, the squad put together a massive upset win over Jelly Fam, with Alabama commit Naas Cunningham setting the single-game record for most steals in a game, with six swipes in the contest. Larry Johnson for Rolling Loud has reached new heights in recent games, averaging nearly 20 PPG over his last four contests. He will have his hands full with Knox and Daquan Davis in this matchup 🥷🏻

The final game of Thursday evening will be played in Lincolnton, NC, as the Cold Hearts and Blue Checks rematch after the Cold Hearts smashed the Checks by 25 last week. The Cold Hearts just put together one of their most impressive wins of the season, defeating the Checks with Kanon Catchings going for 27 points and 11 boards - he’s been one of the hottest players in the league for the last three weeks 🔥

Since Dave Leitao took over as Head Coach for the Cold Hearts, they are 2-0 and tied for first in the standings, setting them up for a potential playoff run. Meanwhile, the Blue Checks secured a signature win on Monday night, downing the searing hot YNG Dreamerz in overtime thanks to a game-winning shot from Checks star Rakease Passmore 🧊

The Prime Video game of the week is a showdown between the Diamond Doves and RWE, a matchup that provided one of the most thrilling games of the year earlier this season. In their first meeting, RWE pulled off the come from behind victory, downing the Doves 80-79 thanks to the late game heroics of Darrion Sutton. Sutton scored 17 points and pulled down 17 rebounds, including a league record 11 offensive rebounds, none of them more crucial than his offensive rebound and subsequent tip-in layup with 19 seconds to complete the teams double-digit comeback 💪

The final game played in OTE Arena this week will be a clash between the City Reapers and Rolling Loud, a matchup that produced one of the biggest upsets of the entire season up to this point. When these two teams met for the first time in early January, the City Reapers were first in the league and had won four straight, while Rolling Loud had yet to win a game and rested solely at the bottom of the league. What followed was the most shocking result of the season, as Rolling Loud led from start to finish, producing a massive 79-67 shocker. For Rolling Loud, Del Jones had his best performance of the season with 20 points and nine boards while Dominick Stewart scored 18 points, including four triples 🎯

The final game of the week will be played between Jelly Fam and the YNG Dreamerz in Brooklyn, NY, a game that will feature two of the hottest teams in the league who are both coming off of their first losses in quite some time. The Dreamerz, who are now tied with the Cold Hearts for the number one spot in the standings, dropped a heartbreaker in overtime to the Blue Checks on Monday night, a game that went to OT thanks to a miraculous tip-in layup from Isaac Ellis in the waning seconds of regulation. Jelly Fam was unable to utilize an incredible flu-game from Ian Jackson, in which he dropped 33 points, as they fell 101-78 in a shocking upset to Rolling Loud. This matchup features the two front-runners for MVP so far this season, as the Dreamerz Eli Ellis and Jelly Fam’s Jackson are the league’s two leading scorers, and a battle like this could go a long way in sorting out the MVP race 🏆

Check out Overtimeelite.com to keep up with all the action this week and so much more. If you’re based in New York, come through to Brooklyn to support 🏀

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