Balling in The Bubble

After a 4-month hiatus due to COVID-19, 22 of the 30 NBA teams flew down to Orlando to complete the NBA season. In the bubble, all players and staff were required to stay at the resort in order to prevent players from contacting the virus. Because of these circumstances, many fans speculated whether this championship title would have an asterisk next to it, whether teams would have a hard time playing without fans, and which players would perform well under these peculiar circumstances. With all these unknown factors, did the bubble turn out to be effective?

After such a long break from basketball many fans expected teams to be out of sync and sluggish. One factor that possibly contributed to the somewhat sluggish play at the start of the bubble was the fact that teams were not able to play in front of crowds. A home team hearing the crowd erupt after hitting a big shot can be very motivating and can even change the momentum of the game. In addition, an away team can also gain a lot of momentum when the crowd silences after they hit a big shot. “I believe the bubble was very effective in the way of stopping the spread of covid in the NBA. It’s the best that could have happened because of the outbreak. I’m just glad the NBA came back. The virtual fans were pretty cool. It’s better than just having pictures of fake fans, it seemed like it would be a cool experience,” junior Joaquin Paszkiewitz said.

 Despite the break and the lack of a crowd, there were a handful of players who exceeded their expectations. Junior Nathan Dineen thought that one player in particular stood out. “I thought that Tyler Herro played outstanding considering that he is only a rookie. Not many players can come in and have that big of an impact their first season,” said Dineen. “The fact that someone from the Woodland Conference was able to have an impact on a finals team is crazy to think about.”

Despite Herro’s outstanding play, Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard received bubble MVP after averaging 37.3 points, 9.6 assists and 4.3 rebounds while shooting 49.7 percent from the field. This included a six-game stretch where he averaged: 48.8 points, 10.2 assists and 7.2 rebounds shooting 54 percent from the field. These outstanding performances from Lillard propelled the Trail Blazers to the 8th seed in the west.

Another hot topic in the bubble were the Milwaukee Bucks. Unfortunately, the one-seeded Bucks were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs by the five-seeded Miami Heat in only five games. “I believe that not having a home court advantage was the reason why some teams were eliminated. I believe the Milwaukee Bucks would have done a lot better if they played at home instead of in the bubble. Not having fans doesn’t help because fans create an energy in an arena that helps teams overcome difficult situations,” Paszkiewitz said.

With Giannis’ contract expiring at the end of the 2020-2021 NBA season, it leaves the Bucks questioning how they can improve their team while also keeping their superstar in Giannis. After back to back disappointing playoff performances from Eric Bledsoe, many Bucks fans believe that we need to trade him. “We should trade Bledsoe and try and get Chris Paul from the Oklahoma City Thunder because Bledsoe has not been performing well in the playoffs and I feel like we need an experienced guard like Chris Paul. He would be a better scoring option and he is also a better playmaker than Bledsoe,” junior Amedin Rushitowski said.

To cap off the bubble, the Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA finals beating the Miami Heat in six games, 4-2. Some people believe that the Lakers had an easy path to the Finals. This was LeBron James’ fourth ring of his career and it has led to the never ending debate of who is better, LeBron or Jordan. “I don’t think the Lakers had an easy path to the finals, but I think that Jordan is still the greatest of all time. Jordan accomplished more in nearly half the time Lebron did,” senior Brett Shumway said.