With Thursday’s announcement that the NBA will resume its season in late July with 22 teams at Walt Disney World in Orlando, here are four predictions about how things will unfold:
Quality of play will be rough
Icon Sportswire / Icon Sportswire / Getty
Viewers should be prepared for the worst when live NBA games return. The on-court product could very well approach summer league-levels of dysfunction.
However, instead of 20-year-old rookies and journeymen on the fringe of the league, this version will feature the likes of LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and James Harden.
Consider this: There were 109 days from the Toronto Raptors‘ 2019 championship win (June 13) to the start of the 2019-20 preseason (Sept. 30). Comparatively, 142 days will have passed from March 11 – when the NBA season went on hiatus – to the tentative July 31 return date.
We know many players – including reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo – didn’t have access to even a basketball hoop for much of March and April. And even with teams reopening practice facilities in recent weeks, players have been prohibited from working out with their teammates.
Anything that involves timing will be out of whack. Open threes will be missed, fouls will be drawn, and fastbreak passes will be heaved into the empty seats.
Someone will get hurt
Vaughn Ridley / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Admittedly, this sounds grim, and no one is wishing an injury on any player.
This doesn’t even necessarily have anything to do with players returning to action following a period of relative inactivity. The bottom line is that injuries happen all the time under normal circumstances.
Each of the 22 remaining teams will play at least eight “seeding games” to determine their postseason placement. Additionally, there could be as many as four play-in contests – one or two per conference depending on whether the No. 9 seed is within four games of eighth after the seeding phase.
You would be hard-pressed to find any eight-game stretch of an NBA season during which a significant player didn’t suffer an injury, missing weeks or months as a result. Here is merely a sample of the major injuries that happened from opening night to March 11 this year:
Really, the question isn’t if a player will get hurt during the seeding phase, but, unfortunately, when will it happen.
Play-in games will become the norm
Joe Murphy / National Basketball Association / Getty
Regardless of the uncomfortable conversations surrounding the players’ health and wellness or how sloppy the on-court product is, hoops-starved fans will eat these games up. And if the ninth seed in either conference is close enough to trigger a play-in scenario, fans will devour that new twist.
In fact, the format will be so wildly popular that there will be a push to make it a permanent fixture for years to come.
The downside is merely one or two more games of end-of-season basketball. Let’s use this year’s field of bubble teams as an example: the Washington Wizards might challenge the Orlando Magic for the right to lose to the Bucks in the first round. On the other hand, we could have two exciting teams – Zion Williamson‘s New Orleans Pelicans and Ja Morant‘s Memphis Grizzlies, for instance – facing off in the NBA’s closest approximation of a March Madness game.
There are a couple of questions, though, that come with instituting play-in games long term. Perhaps most importantly, will a spot in those contests count as a postseason appearance? Major League Baseball’s wild-card games are considered part of the postseason, though its tie-breaker contests aren’t. Similarly, the NCAA’s “First Four” are technically entrants in the tournament.
That distinction will be of particular interest to two Western Conference organizations in July.
The Spurs will need to leapfrog three teams – and outplay the Grizzlies down the stretch – for the chance to keep their 22-year playoff streak intact. Meanwhile, the Sacramento Kings are looking to avoid falling short of the postseason for the 14th straight year.
What would it mean for either streak if the Spurs or Kings qualify for a play-in game but are ultimately eliminated prior to the first round? If this new format is to last, the NBA will have to figure out exactly what play-in games mean for the history books.
Asterisk talk will end come playoff time
Andrew D. Bernstein / National Basketball Association / Getty
Yes, the end of this season is going to be weird. Eight bottom-feeders have been eliminated and the remaining 22 teams will have their schedules changed to reflect a new pool of opponents. Home-court advantage won’t exist and daily routines and personal comforts will be completely upended.
None of that matters, though. With all the trials that teams will face on their way to the 2020 NBA Finals in late September, this year’s championship rings are arguably the most valuable ever. The 2019-20 season has been more difficult, not easier.
Without trivializing the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a unique element to this season; not only must teams outplay their opponents on the court, but they also have to withstand the mental rigors of constant testing, isolation from the rest of the world, and a one-time league structure that has no precedent in NBA history.
If an asterisk must be placed beside the 2020 champion, it will be only to denote the extraordinary circumstances the team conquered. Anything else would be short-selling the monumental tests that await the eventual victors.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points in a record-setting performance and the Sacramento Kings beat the Toronto Raptors 122-107 on Wednesday night.
Domantas Sabonis added 17 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds for his third triple-double of the season for Sacramento. He shot 6 for 6 from the field and 5 for 5 at the free-throw line.
Keegan Murray chipped in with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and De’Aaron Fox scored 21.
The 35-year-old DeRozan has scored at least 20 points in each of his first eight games with the Kings, breaking a franchise mark established by Chris Webber when he reached 20 in his first seven games with Sacramento in 1999.
DeRozan spent the past three seasons with the Chicago Bulls. The six-time All-Star also has played for Toronto and San Antonio during his 16-year NBA career.
RJ Barrett had 23 points to lead the Raptors. Davion Mitchell scored 20 in his first game in Sacramento since being traded to Toronto last summer.
Takeaways
Raptors: Toronto led for most of the first three quarters before wilting in the fourth. The Raptors were outscored 33-14 in the final period.
Kings: Fox played strong defense but struggled again shooting from the floor as he is dealing with a finger injury. Fox went 5 for 17 and just 2 of 8 on 3-pointers. He is 5 for 25 from beyond the arc in his last three games.
Key moment
The Kings trailed 95-89 early in the fourth before going on a 9-0 run that gave them the lead for good. DeRozan started the spurt with a jumper, and Malik Monk scored the final seven points.
Key stat
Sabonis had the eighth game in the NBA since at least 1982-83 with a triple-double while missing no shots from the field or foul line. The previous player to do it was Josh Giddey for Oklahoma City against Portland on Jan. 11.
Up next
Raptors: At the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night, the third stop on a five-game trip.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps are one win away from moving on to the next round of the Major League Soccer playoffs.
To get there, however, the Whitecaps will need to pull off the improbable by defeating the powerhouse Los Angeles FC for a second straight game.
Vancouver blanked the visitors 3-0 on Sunday to level their best-of-three first-round playoff series at a game apiece. As the matchup shifts back to California for a decisive Game 3 on Friday, the Whitecaps are looking for a repeat performance, said striker Brian White.
“We take the good and the bad from last game, learn from what we could have done better and go to LAFC with confidence and, obviously, with a whole lot of respect,” he said.
“We know that we can go there and give them a very good fight and hopefully come away with a win.”
The winner of Friday’s game will face the No. 4-seed Seattle Sounders in a one-game Western Conference semifinal on Nov. 23 or 24.
The ‘Caps finished the regular season eighth in the west with a 13-13-8 record and have since surprised many with their post-season play.
First, Vancouver trounced its regional rivals, the Portland Timbers, 5-0 in a wild-card game. Then, the squad dropped a tightly contested 2-1 decision to the top-seeded L.A. before posting a decisive home victory on Sunday.
Vancouver has scored seven goals this post-season, second only to the L.A. Galaxy (nine). Vancouver also leads the league in expected goals (6.84) through the playoffs.
No one outside of the club expected the Whitecaps to win when the Vancouver-L. A. series began, said defender Ranko Veselinovic.
“We’ve shown to ourselves that we can compete with them,” he said.
Now in his fifth season with the ‘Caps, Veselinovic said Friday’s game will be the biggest he’s played for the team.
“We haven’t had much success in the playoffs so, definitely, this is the one that can put our season on another level,” he said.
This is the second year in a row the Whitecaps have faced LAFC in the first round of the playoffs and last year, Vancouver was ousted in two straight games.
The team isn’t thinking about revenge as it prepares for Game 3, White said.
“More importantly than (beating LAFC), we want to get to the next round,” he said. “LAFC’s a very good team. We’ve come up against them a number of times in different competitions and they always seem to get the better of us. So it’d be huge for us to get the better of them this time.”
Earning a win last weekend required slowing L.A.’s transition game and limiting offensive opportunities for the team’s big stars, including Denis Bouanga.
Those factors will be important again on Friday, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini, who warned that his team could face a different style of game.
“I think the most important thing is going to be to match their intensity at the beginning of the game,” he said. “Because I think they’re going to come at us a million miles per hour.”
The ‘Caps will once again look to captain Ryan Gauld for some offensive firepower. The Scottish attacking midfielder leads MLS in playoff goals with five and has scored in all three of Vancouver’s post-season appearances this year.
Gearing up for another do-or-die matchup is exciting, Gauld said.
“Knowing it’s a winner-takes-all kind of game, being in that kind of environment is nice,” he said. “It’s when you see the best in players.”
LAFC faces the bulk of the pressure heading into the matchup, Sartini said, given the club’s appearances in the last two MLS Cup finals and its 2022 championship title.
“They’re supposed to win and we are not,” the coach said. “But it’s beautiful to have a little bit of pressure on us, too.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
Each PWHL team operated under its city name, with players wearing jerseys featuring the league’s logo in its inaugural season before names and logos were announced last month.
The Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens will start the PWHL’s second season on Nov. 30 with jerseys designed to reflect each team’s identity and to be sold to the public as replicas.
Led by PWHL vice-president of brand and marketing Kanan Bhatt-Shah, the league consulted Creative Agency Flower Shop to design the jerseys manufactured by Bauer, the PWHL said Thursday in a statement.
“Players and fans alike have been waiting for this moment and we couldn’t be happier with the six unique looks each team will don moving forward,” said PWHL senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer.
“These jerseys mark the latest evolution in our league’s history, and we can’t wait to see them showcased both on the ice and in the stands.”
Training camps open Tuesday with teams allowed to carry 32 players.
Each team’s 23-player roster, plus three reserves, will be announced Nov. 27.
Each team will play 30 regular-season games, which is six more than the first season.
Minnesota won the first Walter Cup on May 29 by beating Boston three games to two in the championship series.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
