This Is Why We Play: The NBA Returns!
Attention! Attention! The NBA season is about to resume! Yes, you heard me right after a five-month drought, we’re about to get our first dose of professional sports. It’s been a long time coming, like a really long time, but at long last it’s finally happening. So, how did the NBA manage to resurrect their season from the dead? Great question and it deserves an answer.
Twenty-two Teams and Seeding Games
As I already mentioned, twenty-two NBA teams have made the journey to Orlando, where they will spend the next three months in a so-called, “bubble.” Three months. It sounds like an eternity, doesn’t it? While in reality it isn’t if you factor in that fact players will be away from their families and limited to the campus, it may seem like a lifetime. At least to them. Basically, all the players will have is each other. Sort of like being in a foxhole with your buddies fighting for survival.
Let’s not forget that I also said the players, coaches, staff will all be using the same facilities. That means the same hotel, same court for all games, same workout facilities, etc. in the hopes it will keep players safe and quell any outbreaks of Coronavirus. Now, what does this mean for the teams involved? It means lots of games. Most teams have already gone through practices and from there moved on to scrimmages, designed to act as a mini training camp of sorts. Scrimmage games would consit of ten-minute quarters which would not only help players get back into game shape, but serve as a barometer to see where they were after not playing games since March.
How the Seeding Format Works
Like I said, when you break down how the seeing format works, it’s not very confusing. Seeding games will begin today, July 30th and end on August 14th. A play-in tournament will be held on Aug. 15-16 if necessary, meaning the NBA Playoffs would then begin on Aug. 17th. Seeding games will count towards regular-season standings and stats will count towards regular season-statistics. Three courts will be used. Sanitization will occur between each game, meaning at least a four hour wait period between games.
You might be asking yourself: Well, what time do the games start? Games will start as early as 12:30 p.m. Eastern on weekdays and 1 p.m. on weekends. Any games involving West Coast teams will start as late as 9 p.m. Eastern. Teams will each play one back-to-back contest. What about safety? I mean, let’s face it with this format there could be a greater potential for injury. While true, concerns extend far beyond injury. Some players have already had to leave the bubble and have immediately been quarantined upon return. The NBA has also required all players and coaches to wear masks while on campus and during games players will sit in chairs six feet apart from one another.
The NBA Finals
Of course, everyone knows the goal of this “bubble” experiment, will be for the NBA to crown a champion. That’s the endgame. Since the playoffs won’t start until Aug. 17th and will keep the traditional format of years past where each series is seven games, the league is hoping to have a champion crowned by Oct. 12th. Honestly, that’s quite a stretch. I’m not quite sure how that’s going to happen unless a handful of series wind up going the distance.
That’s just me, but then again, I’ve been wrong before. I just can’t fathom that happening unless every series goes to seven games.
Do we need sports to return?
Yes. That is the simple answer to this question. We’ve been craving it and I think there’s no better time than now for sports to return in as safe an environment as possible. Our world has changed dramatically in the last five months and the return of the NBA will be a welcome return to some semblance of normalcy.