"After about three and a half months without sports, because of Covid-19, the NBA finally returned in July."-- Trevor Walton, 8th grade
After about three and a half months without sports, because of Covid-19, the NBA finally returned in July. The league decided to continue the games in a “bubble,” at the most magical place on earth, DisneyWorld, Orlando. Since then, crazy things have been happening inside the bubble, from Damian Lillard showing up to play like an all star, to an 8-0 game streak by the Phoenix Suns. Lows in the league, such as players coping with the shooting of Jacob Blake, have also occurred, making the players and the National Basketball Association motivated to make change. Either way, even with highs and lows, this 2020 season might be the craziest than all the rest.
Lows:
Even if people are watching their favorite players compete, they could’ve not even shown up to participate. So, the athletes had to make sacrifices by leaving their friends and family for a couple of months to compete for the championship. “It’s definitely a stressful time for us,” Boston Celtics small forward Gordon Hayward said, according to USA Today, referring to leaving his family right when his wife was going to have a new child. But, Hayward’s family is traveling to Indianapolis to stay with their family, while he is balling his heart out.
Mental health is one of the reasons why some players didn’t go to the bubble. According to USA Today, Washington Wizards’ shooting guard Bradley Beal had strong opinions about the topic of being “home away from home” without friends or family. Plus, not being able to be free and explore the bubble. “We can’t just leave,” Beal explained. “We can’t just order whatever food we want. We can’t just do activities, which we want to do. We can’t just go into our teammate’s room. There’s a lot of things we can’t do. It’s tough. I get it from a mental wellness standpoint.”
As well as the postseason, mental health has carried on into the playoffs. In the first round, with the LA Clippers vs Dallas Mavericks, Paul George, shooting guard of the Clippers, had fallen into a stump of difficulty. According to ESPN, in Game 5, George was 7-12 of contested shots. But, in the last three games of the series, he was 5-33. Soon, George was back in action, putting up 35 points in Game 5. And, luckly, the Clippers made it out of the series in six games. Sure, Paul George moved on to the Conference Semifinals, but that wasn’t the end of all his problems. “I talked to a psychiatrist,” George explained, “I underestimated mental health, honestly. I had anxiety and a little bit of depression. Being locked in the bubble, I just wasn’t there. I checked out.”
From August 27 to 29, sadness kept arriving inside and out of the bubble. According to Yahoo Sports, on August 27, college basketball and Arizona coach Lute Olson died at the age of 85 because of a stroke, also according to The U.S. Sun. Soon after, on August 28, beloved actor Chadwick Boseman died from cancer, a fight that Boseman has been dealing with while pursuing his acting dreams. And, on August 29, before tip off with the Milwaukee Bucks and Orlando Magic, former 18-year NBA veteran, All-Star, and Sixth Man of the Year Clifford Robinson died at 53 years old from lymphoma, according to CBS Sports.
After all these wonderful people passed away, the NBA decided to honor them by calling out their names and presenting their photos during the pre-game intros. Still, it might take some time for NBA players to adjust to these losses during this hard time we’re in.
With Covid-19, the NBA has made its number one top priority making sure that players won’t fall ill during this pandemic. So, once you enter the bubble, safety measures such as daily testing take place. But, according to SportingNews, if an NBA player/staff needs to leave for special reasons, they need to get permission from the NBA. And, if they want to re-enter the bubble, they are required to spend four more days by themselves in their hotel room, but only if they tested negative on the days that they were gone..
According to SportingNews, Houston Rockets’ Small Forward Bruno Cabaclo faced a 10-day quarantine and invasive nose swab testing after he left his room during the 48-hour quarantine period. Cabaclo tried to explain that he didn’t know he wasn’t allowed to leave his room, but he still got hit with the ten day penalty.
When the NBA was finalizing the rules for the season to return, they wanted to make sure that players would be healthy and feel safe inside the bubble. So, the league cut some teams out of the bubble who had no chance of making the playoffs. 22 teams, such as the Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets, came to the bubble, while eight teams, which were the, New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, Golden State Warriors, Detroit Pistons, Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Charlotte Hornets sat out. This means that the fans of the 22 teams were able to keep cheering for their players to win a championship, while the players and fans of the eight teams are now sidelined until the 2020-21 season starts.
On the first day at the NBA Bubble, some players thought that the accommodations weren’t fit for them, especially the food. According to Insider, players such as Joel Embiid and Ben McLemore made jokes/comments about their food, with Embiid saying, “Gonna lose 50 lbs.” Then, he posted a picture of himself as a kid, referring that he’s going to become skinny from not eating. McLemore recorded a video of himself opening up his container saying, “Not the fave.” But, the food that NBA players were eating wasn’t going to be permanent, it was only for the two day quarantine that they were dealing with.
Highs:
Because of Covid-19, fans aren’t allowed in the bubble, which is actually good for some basketball players. According to CBS Boston, NBA stars such as LeBron James are able to walk free in public without crowds of people surrounding him everywhere he goes. In fact, the only crowds of people in the bubble are the other NBA players walking by, through the hotel hallways or just outside at the pool. Players like Kemba Walker, Point Guard for the Boston Celtics, enjoy seeing their fellow players around the bubble.
“Whenever you’re going downstairs, you’re going to see somebody,” Walker said, in an interview with reporter Taylor Rooks. “Like, the other night, me and Jayson Tatum were walking to get some food and we saw ‘Bron, as well as J.R. Smith, Jared Dudley and Kyle Kuzma.”
“It’s rare, very rare, to see LeBron walking by himself and being comfortable,” Walker continued. “Like, I was telling somebody that he probably hasn’t done that since he was nine years old, being able to be so comfortable. Just walking around and not worrying about people coming up to him and being bothered asking for something. Now, he’s just regular, you know? Not regular, but he’s able to be comfortable and walk around comfortably. I think that’s pretty cool.”
According to ESPN and USA Today, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association said on July 20th that Coronavirus tests of 346 players in the NBA bubble have been negative since July 13th. And, since then, nobody in the bubble has recorded any positive results.
On August 26, the Milwaukee Bucks made a big move in the NBA by boycotting the Playoffs by not playing Game 5 of the First Round against the Orlando Magic. The Bucks did this because they were trying to send a message bigger than basketball, a message about the shooting of Jacob Blake, and all the other souls who lost their lives to police violence. Since then, other teams in the Playoffs decided to follow the Bucks by also boycotting the Playoffs, according to ESPN.
Players and staff such as Doc Rivers, coach of the LA Clippers, have spoken out against the shooting of Jacob Blake, and how change needs to be made in our world. “All you hear is Donald Trump and all of them talking about fear,” Rivers said, referring to the Republicans National Convention. “We’re the ones getting killed. We’re the ones getting shot. We're the ones that we're denied to live in certain communities. We've been hung. We've been shot. And all you do is keep hearing about fear.”
“It’s amazing why we keep loving this country, and this country does not love us back,” Rivers continued saying, “It's really so sad. Like, I should just be a coach. I'm so often reminded of my color. It's just really sad. We got to do better. But we got to demand better.”
“It’s funny,” Rivers continued. “We protest. They send riot guards. They send people in riot outfits. They go up to Michigan with guns. They're spitting on cops. Nothing happens.” Rivers then explained how his father was a cop, and how he just wants the police to protect African Americans. “The training has to change in the police force,” Rivers said, “The unions have to be taken down in the police force. My dad was a cop. I believe in good cops. We're not trying to defund the police and take all their money away. We're trying to get them to protect us, just like they protect everybody else.”
Without NBA fans at the games, the league created a platform where the NBA would invite fans to watch the game through livestream and show their reactions inside the Disney arenas, according to the NBA. Since then, the virtual fan experience has become a big trend on social media.
“With the unfortunate situation involving the pandemic that we’re in, we began to focus on how to bring our fans closer to the game in different kinds of ways,” said Sara Zuckert, the league’s head of next generation telecasts. “We’re in such a different scenario now, with the way everyone is consuming media and watching sports. We knew this would be something different. I don’t think we could’ve predicted the response. I’m just thrilled to see how popular it is.”
During the time in the NBA bubble, players such as Damian Lillard, point guard of the Portland Trailblazers, and T.J. Warren, small forward of the Indiana Pacers, have been making a statement about themselves by putting up incredible stats to help their team. In fact, the NBA has presented awards for the bubble season, giving a gift to each player that has worked their heart out, proving the doubters and haters wrong.
According to Essentially Sports and Yahoo Sports, Lillard won the MVP for putting up 37.3 points, 9.6 assists, and 4.3 rebounds in the eight bubble games, while managing to move his team into the eighth seed, just enough to make the playoffs.
For Coach of the Year, the winner was Monty Williams, facilitator of the Phoenix Suns, after going 8-0. Unfortunately, for them, they didn’t make the playoffs. But, if the Suns keep playing like they did in the bubble, they could be a serious threat in the 2020-21 season.
History was made in the First Round of the Playoffs between the Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets. According to Bleacher Report, entering the 2020 postseason, Michael Jordan (in the 1988 first round) and Allen Iverson (in the 2001 Conference Semifinals) were the only players in NBA history to put up two 50-point games in a single playoff series. But, that all changed when Donovan Mitchell (Shooting Guard for the Jazz) and Jamal Murray (Point Guard/Shooting Guard for the Nuggets) each put up 50-points in the same series. Mitchell started the series off with 57-points in Game 1, which put him third in the all time leaderboard for single-game postseason performances.
This season has been filled with surprises that we’ll remember, or that we’ll want to forget. Since Covid started, the NBA has been trying to adapt in many ways, so that they could bring live entertainment to fans while still bringing the game to NBA players. As the 2020 season is beginning to wrap up, teams are now preparing for the 2021 season, and the surprises that are up ahead.
Lows:
Even if people are watching their favorite players compete, they could’ve not even shown up to participate. So, the athletes had to make sacrifices by leaving their friends and family for a couple of months to compete for the championship. “It’s definitely a stressful time for us,” Boston Celtics small forward Gordon Hayward said, according to USA Today, referring to leaving his family right when his wife was going to have a new child. But, Hayward’s family is traveling to Indianapolis to stay with their family, while he is balling his heart out.
Mental health is one of the reasons why some players didn’t go to the bubble. According to USA Today, Washington Wizards’ shooting guard Bradley Beal had strong opinions about the topic of being “home away from home” without friends or family. Plus, not being able to be free and explore the bubble. “We can’t just leave,” Beal explained. “We can’t just order whatever food we want. We can’t just do activities, which we want to do. We can’t just go into our teammate’s room. There’s a lot of things we can’t do. It’s tough. I get it from a mental wellness standpoint.”
As well as the postseason, mental health has carried on into the playoffs. In the first round, with the LA Clippers vs Dallas Mavericks, Paul George, shooting guard of the Clippers, had fallen into a stump of difficulty. According to ESPN, in Game 5, George was 7-12 of contested shots. But, in the last three games of the series, he was 5-33. Soon, George was back in action, putting up 35 points in Game 5. And, luckly, the Clippers made it out of the series in six games. Sure, Paul George moved on to the Conference Semifinals, but that wasn’t the end of all his problems. “I talked to a psychiatrist,” George explained, “I underestimated mental health, honestly. I had anxiety and a little bit of depression. Being locked in the bubble, I just wasn’t there. I checked out.”
From August 27 to 29, sadness kept arriving inside and out of the bubble. According to Yahoo Sports, on August 27, college basketball and Arizona coach Lute Olson died at the age of 85 because of a stroke, also according to The U.S. Sun. Soon after, on August 28, beloved actor Chadwick Boseman died from cancer, a fight that Boseman has been dealing with while pursuing his acting dreams. And, on August 29, before tip off with the Milwaukee Bucks and Orlando Magic, former 18-year NBA veteran, All-Star, and Sixth Man of the Year Clifford Robinson died at 53 years old from lymphoma, according to CBS Sports.
After all these wonderful people passed away, the NBA decided to honor them by calling out their names and presenting their photos during the pre-game intros. Still, it might take some time for NBA players to adjust to these losses during this hard time we’re in.
With Covid-19, the NBA has made its number one top priority making sure that players won’t fall ill during this pandemic. So, once you enter the bubble, safety measures such as daily testing take place. But, according to SportingNews, if an NBA player/staff needs to leave for special reasons, they need to get permission from the NBA. And, if they want to re-enter the bubble, they are required to spend four more days by themselves in their hotel room, but only if they tested negative on the days that they were gone..
According to SportingNews, Houston Rockets’ Small Forward Bruno Cabaclo faced a 10-day quarantine and invasive nose swab testing after he left his room during the 48-hour quarantine period. Cabaclo tried to explain that he didn’t know he wasn’t allowed to leave his room, but he still got hit with the ten day penalty.
When the NBA was finalizing the rules for the season to return, they wanted to make sure that players would be healthy and feel safe inside the bubble. So, the league cut some teams out of the bubble who had no chance of making the playoffs. 22 teams, such as the Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets, came to the bubble, while eight teams, which were the, New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, Golden State Warriors, Detroit Pistons, Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Charlotte Hornets sat out. This means that the fans of the 22 teams were able to keep cheering for their players to win a championship, while the players and fans of the eight teams are now sidelined until the 2020-21 season starts.
On the first day at the NBA Bubble, some players thought that the accommodations weren’t fit for them, especially the food. According to Insider, players such as Joel Embiid and Ben McLemore made jokes/comments about their food, with Embiid saying, “Gonna lose 50 lbs.” Then, he posted a picture of himself as a kid, referring that he’s going to become skinny from not eating. McLemore recorded a video of himself opening up his container saying, “Not the fave.” But, the food that NBA players were eating wasn’t going to be permanent, it was only for the two day quarantine that they were dealing with.
Highs:
Because of Covid-19, fans aren’t allowed in the bubble, which is actually good for some basketball players. According to CBS Boston, NBA stars such as LeBron James are able to walk free in public without crowds of people surrounding him everywhere he goes. In fact, the only crowds of people in the bubble are the other NBA players walking by, through the hotel hallways or just outside at the pool. Players like Kemba Walker, Point Guard for the Boston Celtics, enjoy seeing their fellow players around the bubble.
“Whenever you’re going downstairs, you’re going to see somebody,” Walker said, in an interview with reporter Taylor Rooks. “Like, the other night, me and Jayson Tatum were walking to get some food and we saw ‘Bron, as well as J.R. Smith, Jared Dudley and Kyle Kuzma.”
“It’s rare, very rare, to see LeBron walking by himself and being comfortable,” Walker continued. “Like, I was telling somebody that he probably hasn’t done that since he was nine years old, being able to be so comfortable. Just walking around and not worrying about people coming up to him and being bothered asking for something. Now, he’s just regular, you know? Not regular, but he’s able to be comfortable and walk around comfortably. I think that’s pretty cool.”
According to ESPN and USA Today, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association said on July 20th that Coronavirus tests of 346 players in the NBA bubble have been negative since July 13th. And, since then, nobody in the bubble has recorded any positive results.
On August 26, the Milwaukee Bucks made a big move in the NBA by boycotting the Playoffs by not playing Game 5 of the First Round against the Orlando Magic. The Bucks did this because they were trying to send a message bigger than basketball, a message about the shooting of Jacob Blake, and all the other souls who lost their lives to police violence. Since then, other teams in the Playoffs decided to follow the Bucks by also boycotting the Playoffs, according to ESPN.
Players and staff such as Doc Rivers, coach of the LA Clippers, have spoken out against the shooting of Jacob Blake, and how change needs to be made in our world. “All you hear is Donald Trump and all of them talking about fear,” Rivers said, referring to the Republicans National Convention. “We’re the ones getting killed. We’re the ones getting shot. We're the ones that we're denied to live in certain communities. We've been hung. We've been shot. And all you do is keep hearing about fear.”
“It’s amazing why we keep loving this country, and this country does not love us back,” Rivers continued saying, “It's really so sad. Like, I should just be a coach. I'm so often reminded of my color. It's just really sad. We got to do better. But we got to demand better.”
“It’s funny,” Rivers continued. “We protest. They send riot guards. They send people in riot outfits. They go up to Michigan with guns. They're spitting on cops. Nothing happens.” Rivers then explained how his father was a cop, and how he just wants the police to protect African Americans. “The training has to change in the police force,” Rivers said, “The unions have to be taken down in the police force. My dad was a cop. I believe in good cops. We're not trying to defund the police and take all their money away. We're trying to get them to protect us, just like they protect everybody else.”
Without NBA fans at the games, the league created a platform where the NBA would invite fans to watch the game through livestream and show their reactions inside the Disney arenas, according to the NBA. Since then, the virtual fan experience has become a big trend on social media.
“With the unfortunate situation involving the pandemic that we’re in, we began to focus on how to bring our fans closer to the game in different kinds of ways,” said Sara Zuckert, the league’s head of next generation telecasts. “We’re in such a different scenario now, with the way everyone is consuming media and watching sports. We knew this would be something different. I don’t think we could’ve predicted the response. I’m just thrilled to see how popular it is.”
During the time in the NBA bubble, players such as Damian Lillard, point guard of the Portland Trailblazers, and T.J. Warren, small forward of the Indiana Pacers, have been making a statement about themselves by putting up incredible stats to help their team. In fact, the NBA has presented awards for the bubble season, giving a gift to each player that has worked their heart out, proving the doubters and haters wrong.
According to Essentially Sports and Yahoo Sports, Lillard won the MVP for putting up 37.3 points, 9.6 assists, and 4.3 rebounds in the eight bubble games, while managing to move his team into the eighth seed, just enough to make the playoffs.
For Coach of the Year, the winner was Monty Williams, facilitator of the Phoenix Suns, after going 8-0. Unfortunately, for them, they didn’t make the playoffs. But, if the Suns keep playing like they did in the bubble, they could be a serious threat in the 2020-21 season.
History was made in the First Round of the Playoffs between the Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets. According to Bleacher Report, entering the 2020 postseason, Michael Jordan (in the 1988 first round) and Allen Iverson (in the 2001 Conference Semifinals) were the only players in NBA history to put up two 50-point games in a single playoff series. But, that all changed when Donovan Mitchell (Shooting Guard for the Jazz) and Jamal Murray (Point Guard/Shooting Guard for the Nuggets) each put up 50-points in the same series. Mitchell started the series off with 57-points in Game 1, which put him third in the all time leaderboard for single-game postseason performances.
This season has been filled with surprises that we’ll remember, or that we’ll want to forget. Since Covid started, the NBA has been trying to adapt in many ways, so that they could bring live entertainment to fans while still bringing the game to NBA players. As the 2020 season is beginning to wrap up, teams are now preparing for the 2021 season, and the surprises that are up ahead.