[2] It is a remake[3] of the 1995 film Sudden Death, which starred Jean-Claude Van Damme as a former firefighter battling hostage takers during game seven of the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup Finals.

[7] A commando unit led by Alpha (Michael Eklund) and his ruthless right-hand man Omega (Marrese Crump) takes control of a Phoenix, Arizona sports arena during the season opener of the fictional National Basketball League, pitting the hometown Falcons against the New York Knights.

Alpha is a disgraced counterterrorist with a grudge towards arena owner and new media billionaire Diana Smart (Sabryn Rock), who funded an investigation into his unit's abuses of power.

[8] Security guard and former US Army Special Forces veteran Jesse Freeman (Michael Jai White) teams with the arena's janitor Gus (Gary Owen) in an attempt to stop the assailants and rescue his daughter Mara (Nakai Takawira), who has been taken hostage alongside Smart and her entourage.

[2] Following informal mentions of the impending remake by director Dallas Jackson, including in a June 2019 interview with the Los Angeles Sentinel,[9] Netflix officially announced the project in August of that year, promising a humorous take on its 1995 inspiration.

This resulted in some interference with White's vision, as the studio-appointed editor relied on an abundance of quick cuts, which are often used to enhance the performances of non-martial artists in mainstream action cinema.

Some backgrounds hint at the film's actual shooting location, such as a food stand named the Aviators' Grill—after the Winnipeg Jets—and selling poutine, a traditional Canadian dish that is seldom offered in basketball arenas of the Southwestern United States.

Fort Richmond's Dan Becker, a former NCAA player with the Colorado Buffaloes, appears as the New York Knights' head coach and helped stage the on-court action.

[5][6][28] Veteran critic Roger Moore summed up his thoughts by stating, "This slow-footed, jokey, half-assed remake of Jean-Claude Van Damme's Sudden Death is better than it has any right to be, mostly thanks to White.