Purple and gold confetti glide down in the arena of the NBA Bubble located in Orlando, Florida. Laker players celebrating with bottles of champagne and a shiny Larry O’Brien trophy kept in a priceless Louis Vuitton case. The Lakers are your 2019-20 NBA Champions, and just 3 months later the 2020-21 NBA season is underway.
Some particulars of the new, nontraditional NBA season. To start off, the NBA is only having 72 games for each team this season opposed to its regular 82. Also, the Orlando Bubble is out of the question and teams are having their regular arenas and facilities to play and practice in. All except the Toronto Raptors who are located in Canada. Due to the travel restrictions the Raptors have been temporarily located in Tampa Bay, Florida for the season. The NBA season also started on December 22nd, a later start than usual. Finally, it is up to the organizations to have a fan limit at games. Most teams chose to have zero fans at games to keep players safe from Covid exposure, but some other teams are allowing up to 1,500 fans.
With the NBA season looking completely different, there have been many surprises to the beginning of the season. One of them being the Phoenix Suns, who acquired veteran guard Chris Paul from the Oklahoma City Thunder in the off season. The Phoenix Suns, who are one of the youngest squads in the NBA really needed that veteran piece. They are currently 5-2, tied with the Los Angeles Clippers and Lakers for the first place spot in the Eastern Conference.
Speaking of the Los Angeles Clippers, in just their 2nd game of the season, superstar forward Kawhi Leanord suffered an elbow to the mouth putting him to a bloody mess. The fun guy had to get 8 stitches in his mouth and missed one game. Unfortunately for the Clippers, the one game Kawhi missed was the worst loss in franchise history. The Clippers were destroyed by the Dallas Mavericks in a 124-73 loss. The Dallas Mavericks led the Clippers by 50 at half making it the largest lead at half in the history of the NBA.
Despite the huge win, the Mavs have yet to find their groove. The 6’7 Slovenian point guard, Luka Doncic, was averaging 24 pts a game despite shooting 2 for 21 at the three point line this year. All before his outstanding game vs. the Houston Rockets. The MVP favorite scored 33 points, dished 11 assists, and grabbed 16 rebounds in the win vs. the Rockets. The Mavs still seem like they are missing one big piece in their team and that’s Kristaps Porzingis. The 7’3 stretch four has been due to an injury from the last season but is making his way to returning in January.
Only a couple games in, and there have been various injuries in the 5-6 game stretch. The most notable one is Ja Morant’s grade 2 ankle sprain who will be out for a couple of weeks. A lot of the absences have been due to covid or illnesses. Sadly, this may be a common theme throughout this season.
With all the new protocols, rules, and changes of the 2021 NBA season, we are for sure in for a wild ride this year.
