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- 🤩 The OTE Semi-Finals Are Here
🤩 The OTE Semi-Finals Are Here
The OTE Semi-Finals have arrived with two highly anticipated matchups in store. The Dreamerz face-off against RWE in a star-studded #1 vs. #4 matchup. The City Reapers and Cold Hearts renew their rivalry in the much-talked about #2 vs. #3 duel 🍿 (3 min read)
Miles Lally
March 01, 2024
The OTE Semi-Finals Are Here
The playoffs are heating up as they head into the semi-finals, beginning this Friday night on Prime Video with Game 1 between the #2 City Reapers and #3 Cold Hearts. That first game will be followed with a duel between the #1 YNG Dreamerz and #4 RWE on YouTube at 9PM on Friday evening 🍿
📍 Friday, 7PM - Cold Hearts vs. City Reapers (Prime Video)
📍 Friday, 9PM - RWE vs. YNG Dreamerz (YouTube)
📍 Saturday, 7PM - YNG Dreamerz vs. RWE (YouTube)
📍 Saturday, 9PM - City Reapers vs. Cold Hearts (YouTube)
📍 Monday, 7PM - RWE vs. YNG Dreamerz (YouTube) (*If nec.)
📍 Monday, 9PM - Cold Hearts vs. City Reapers (YouTube) (*If nec.)
The first matchup is a rematch of the rivalry that began to form in the 2023 playoffs between the City Reapers and Cold Hearts. The Reapers and Cold Hearts have played three times this season with the Reapers holding a slight 2-1 advantage thus far. The City Reapers blew out the Cold Hearts in their first matchup as Jahki Howard went for a game-high 19 points. The second matchup was the closest of the three as the Cold Hearts earned a narrow 86-80 victory before the Reapers snared another blowout win in the final game of the regular season. These are two of the deepest teams in the league but both are battling injury issues so will require elevated play from their stars ⭐
The City Reapers earned a bye through the first two rounds of the playoffs thanks to a strong close to a regular season. The Reapers were also the most heavily awarded team in the league as they had three players capture end-of-season awards. Amari Evans, who has served as the vocal leader for the Reapers for much of the season, was named the OTE Defensive Player of the Year, honoring his league best perimeter defense throughout the season. The team’s two offensive engines, Howard and Bryson Tiller, were both named to the All-OTE Second Team for leading the team to the second overall seed in the playoffs. All three players will have their hands full with a stacked Cold Hearts roster 🗜️
The Cold Hearts advanced to this point after taking down the sixth seeded Jelly Fam in a thrilling three game series in the second round of the playoffs. In game 3, down three major contributors, it was Kanon Catchings who stepped up to the plate finishing the game with 21 points and 15 rebounds in what was an unbelievable effort. The Cold Hearts landed two major postseason awards. McDonald’s All-American John Bol had to make more room on his award shelf as he landed on the All-OTE First Team as he served as one of the league’s elite shot-blockers this season. The Cold Hearts offensive initiator, Mikel Brown Jr., earned a spot on the All-OTE Second Team, as he served as the team's primary offensive engine for the bulk of the season 🍔
The second matchup will be an intense duel between the YNG Dreamerz and RWE, a matchup that has provided its fair share of fireworks already this season. The Dreamerz come into the playoffs as the overall number one seed, however, RWE is the only team in the league this season to hold a winning record over the Dreamerz in the regular season. RWE scored 107 points in a demolition of the Dreamerz in their first meeting, as Karter Knox scored a season-high 34 points. The Dreamerz got their revenge in their next meeting, winning a thrilling 99-95 contest in which Eli Ellis one upped Knox with 38 points in that contest. RWE took the final meeting 97-78, however, the Dreamerz had already clinched the one seed so they rested the majority of their starters for that meeting 1️⃣
The Dreamerz have been proving their doubters wrong all season and plan to continue doing just that as they enter the playoffs as the undisputed team to beat. It should come as no surprise that Eli Ellis was the big winner of the end-of-season award announcements on Wednesday and Thursday. Ellis was named the OTE MVP for his historic regular season, making him just the second player in league history to take home the award. Ellis was the league’s leading scorer this season, pacing the field by nearly ten points per game, and he also holds the eight highest individual scoring performances this season. On top of all of that, Ellis finds himself just 47 points shy of the all-time OTE scoring record, currently held by Ausar Thompson. At Ellis’ scoring pace in the regular season, he is likely to break that record by game 2 of the semi-finals 🤯
RWE had a more unique path to the semi-finals as they battled ups and downs the entire regular season, as they battled more injuries than any other team. Once the playoffs began last week, the RWE squad was dialed in, sweeping the Blue Checks in the second round, thanks to big-time performances from Knox, who leads all players in the playoffs in scoring at 22.5 PPG. RWE found themselves highly decorated when the regular season awards were announced. Knox landed on the All-OTE First Team after finishing third in the league in scoring and powering RWE through their injuries. Daquan Davis was named to the All-OTE Second Team after finishing the season at the top of the assists leaderboard with 5.8 APG. Jayden Wilkins won the inaugural Next Up award, which is given to the best underclassmen in the league ☝️
The winners of these two matchups will face-off in the OTE Finals, which is a best-of-5 series, for a chance to take home the third annual OTE trophy 🏆
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