March 11, 2020 changed the 2019-2020 NBA season forever. That night, Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for COVID-19 and soon after, the NBA season was suspended until further notice. Just five months later, the NBA playoffs are well underway inside a bubble at Walt Disney World in Orlando. It goes without saying that these playoffs are different from others: all playoff teams are playing in the same location in empty arenas with only virtual fans on video boards to simulate the normally raucous playoff atmosphere. With no real home-court advantage for higher seeded teams, virtual fans, and empty arenas in addition to players not having played basketball for four months, it would have been easy to put an asterisk to whoever wins the NBA championship this year. However, one month into the restart of the NBA season with no positive COVID-19 tests, the NBA bubble has worked better than expected.
After four months away from the game, there was no telling what kind of basketball we were going to get. Were players going to be out of shape? Will the games be less intense? It is safe to say we have seen some of the most exciting basketball that we could ever ask for. The battle for the last two spots in the Western Conference alone has been the best thing about this restart which featured the undefeated Phoenix Suns (yes, you read that correctly) and the Portland Trail Blazers led by Damian Lillard who willed his team into the NBA playoffs with a performance worthy of an MVP. With so much on the line for many teams, almost every game was close with many going into overtime. Players such as Fred VanVleet, Luka Doncic, and Jimmy Butler delivered incredible performances on a nightly basis which included buzzer beaters and breaking career-high points per game. As we go further into the NBA playoffs, it is without a doubt that these playoffs will continue to showcase outstanding basketball performances.
One of the biggest questions coming from inside the bubble was how the NBA was going to simulate the playoff atmosphere without fans inside the arena. Clearly, cardboard cut-outs of fans like what the MLB did wasn’t going to cut it (which is honestly a sad sight for me). Bringing in virtual fans to root for either team on the court has been a great addition to make the atmosphere at the games as exciting as technology could allow. It is much more fun to watch the game and see hundreds of virtual fans react to basketball plays on the court, and even more amusing when you see guys like Lil Wayne and Chris Bosh pop up on the video screens. I admit that the bubble limits the audience reaction to a certain extent: had Game 3 between the Raptors and the Celtics taken place at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, the crowd’s reaction to OG Anunoby’s improbable game-winner would have blown the roof off the place. Conversely, had the game taken place at TD Garden in Boston as it should have been, the stunned silence would have been satisfying as well.
The NBA bubble playoffs is certainly a different fan experience from years past. In spite of 2020, the NBA has done an excellent job not only at preventing the spread of COVID-19 but it also provided an opportunity to finish the 2019-2020 season with spectacular basketball performances while simulating a playoff atmosphere to the best of their ability. Playoff basketball in September? Count me in.
