( ( ( ( ( nba bubble ball 2020 ) ) ) ) )

let's take this thread all the way to the finals (if they happen).

HOOP IS BACK

https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/sporting_news/8/88/nba-bubble-072820-getty-ftr_171qre7cfhsui1b802zc3k2pks.jpg?t=-1690856413&quality=100

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/UgkRlP2B14D-JH5QZTD_MdgIgYs=/0x0:5199x3466/1200x800/filters:focal(2185x1318:3015x2148)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66775480/AP20076746979318.0.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O49OgQ_kogw

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/BhUCnYlLiTEpJlkYwCVFnU4CggA=/1400x1400/filters:format(jpeg)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/20046339/BubbledInsideTheBubble_Getty_AP_Ringer.jpg

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/07/20/sports/20200714-marc-stein-web-4/merlin_174407280_da587713-f2ae-4596-8f81-773745c3d34b-superJumbo.jpg

https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Lou-Williams_-Magic-City-wings-are-apparently-totally-worth-it.jpg

https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/JR-Smith-Dion-Waiters-_make-case_-to-crack-playoff-rotation.jpg

is it just me or does Waiters' face look like a D Wade/Darius Miles mashup

bubble boys are back

xp i see it

http://i.pinimg.com/originals/4a/15/5c/4a155c42d0d5ec94dafb93c686cb548c.jpg

lol

green light for zion playing today.

if I had cable, I'd watch some games.

Can't wait for the hoopage.

Lol @ bubble Lance.

guess we are watching some hoops tonight boys

i for one have "hoops on the brain"

alright i'm in if only for tonight.
i feel a bit like without a crowd this is gonna be a little like watching 2k

https://i.insider.com/5eeb8a3b2618b91aaa25ee83?width=1100&format=jpeg&auto=webp

H.O.O.P.P.E.

i'm in a cabin in maine but i'll join the hoopwatch next week

im watching some hoops

hey y’all. the hoops are on the tube.

be there a bit later on--i'm psyched!

virtual fan situation is very much something I’ll say that

lol announcer commenting on gobert leading the league in screen assists, thank you I had forgotten about that, great stuff

i think they have done a great job getting the sounds dialed in. from the first couple scrimmages i watched to now is drastically improved. the virtual fans is a pretty cool idea and it helps the backgrounds look semi normal.

yeah fan thing is fine in long shots but the closeups are v v weird almost unsettling

hah yah stay zoomed out

lol, you know it's a pels home game because there's "smoothie king" on the court

yah kinda funny the little team logos and the sponsor logos.

Who the hell is tony bradley

damn zion. wasnt even ready for the oop and still got there somehow

agree with this

Stan Van Gundy is constantly dropping knowledge on this broadcast. Really a pleasure to listen to him and Ian Eagle. High-level announcer combo.

— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) July 30, 2020

Was wondering who was doing the color commentary cause was thinking he's good but doesn't have that prime time pizzazz the national games usually go for

yah not one to throw out catch phrases or get hyped up

lonzo has missed like 7 layups

bubble boy

utah is just so uninspiring on offense. they are really missing bojan.

Utah has no fucking chance to do anything in the bubble. Their two best players hate each other and the bad vibes are obvious.

They look lukewarm, yes.

weird how svg comes off as sincere and enthusiastic while his bro has become a complete drag

i watch hoop friends

feel like u can only be a tv guy for so long before u just cant care anymore xp

unless ur a lifer play by play pro

gobert shd be deported from the bubble hes a super spreader

xp yeah true

watching baseball during commercials everything is normal

his true shooting is .481 in the offs

― k3vin k., Sunday, September 27, 2020 7:17 PM (forty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i was just looking at his 3pt%, but fair point. his ts% is only about 2% lower from last year and its not even in his bottom 3 playoff ts%. this is just who icyhot is.

i think bam or butler need to be the best player in this half for the heat to win, it’s been tatum for 2.5 games. admittedly didn’t see the group economics onslaught coming.

it's Bam

celtics ran out of gas

they should switch to renewables

welp heat destroyed the celtics in crunch time all series and so deserved to win

...beat la...

never knew i was a dyed in the wool heat fan but here we are

beatla mania

damn...

pic.twitter.com/NoqBYfVfpI

— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) September 28, 2020

with like 6 mins left the heat decided to start playing really hard on defense

Lebron vs. his old team huh

bam was everything you could want out of giannis in the fourth

yup. feel like jokic and bam are showing us how to be a "big man" in the nba now

as I said a few days ago, it would be really funny if lebron lost to the heat

tragic in the epic sense actually

Got this text out of the blue 3 years ago. Hopped on the phone a couple days later and talked for an hour about getting into sports media because he thought his basketball career was winding down.

Three years later he's about to start in the NBA Finals. What a world. pic.twitter.com/egSweR0DWk

— Mark Titus (@clubtrillion) September 28, 2020

duncan robinson is a dork and thats v cool

from a tv-less ranch house in midcoast maine, congrats to the heat. no question who the better team was when it mattered.

yeah this feels like the most amicable loss possible. glad it was here and not in the toronto series

amicable to fans i mean, no clue how the players feel

i will say despite the fact that i will passively support the heat in the finals, i would like to light all content about their culture and how tough they are on fire. retroactive congrats to noted winner jimmy butler for reaching a conference finals for the first time in his life.

lmao. the org is a good fit for him tho no doubt.

Jimmy is awesome and everything he's called out previous organizations, players, and coaches he's had unsuccessful run-ins with for has been proven unambiguously correct. If he wasn't stuck with some of the most inept front offices in the NBA over the past decade (Bulls and Wolves, who have both completely cleaned house in their FOs since his departure) he'd have gone back to the conference Finals (cause he has made them before in 2015 and went up 2-1 over the Cavs) and made a Finals much sooner than this. Glad he's happy and finally getting the opportunity later rather than never.

... even if in the bubble he looks like a hobo

you try making it to the finals while managing a start up coffee concern in this economy, jimmy looks amazing considering

hard to say who looks the most scraggly between him, iggy and solomon hill.

iggy 6 straight finals btw

Lakers in 6?

Will/can Bam guard Anthony Davis (to the extent anyone can)?

xp bruh that 2015 series was the semifinals

Lakers in 6?

yeah, if I had to pick. but i really have no clue how this series plays out. Miami is the hottest team right now but who knows how the matchups will be.

lakers have two unguardable guys heat are gonna run around a lot see what happens

lakers in 6 feels like the safest bet. heat are gonna have to shoot the lakers out of the gym.

i love this photo of spoelstra video coordinating

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ei-bQdIXkAE_fc4?format=jpg&name=medium

i wonder if he keeps up with the video coordinating tech

I sat on a plane next to a nba scout like 20 years ago and they had all this crazy video tech for watching film on their laptop. Video cartridges I hadn’t seen before. I also realized watching him work that if you run a new play every team knows what the play is in a day: the name of it, the hand signal for it etc

They probably use the cloud or something now

is it just me or were the celtics basically terrible every time hayward was in the game? he missed a stock-still layup with about 6 minutes left to go in the third and i wanted to throw my toshiba regza through the wall.

love the heat though. just going to log off now and order my “group economics” replica tank

hayward was bad he never got up to speed after the injury would be a shame if they were forced to trade him for myles turner

oh my god he DOES belong back in indiana, jesus

it was written

J.R. Smith predicted a Lakers vs. Heat Finals back in February. 👀🍿 pic.twitter.com/JvJ0oENsw2

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) September 28, 2020

twice a day

J.R. Smith predicted a Lakers vs. Heat Finals back in February.

Call me crazy, but this evidence doesn't convince me that J.R. Smith has a brilliantly analytical basketball mind that can sift through thousands of variables and arrive at a sound prediction of the NBA's future.

http://media2.fdncms.com/clevescene/imager/u/original/19701283/lebron_jr.jpg

https://www.gq.com/story/inside-the-nba-bubble

did this get posted somewhere? it's fantastic

Inside, we devised all kinds of ways to pass the time. Once, I played Heads Up! (the charades-like game where you hold your phone up to your forehead) with Kemba Walker of the Boston Celtics at the end of an interview. The answer on the screen was “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,” and the clue he gave me was “They be flying on brooms and shit.” Ja Morant of the Grizzlies and I would play Connect Four on the iPhone (he still hasn't beaten me), and Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook—who were traded for each other before the season began—would team up and play spades on their phones against Chris's brother, C.J., and his mom, Robin. Westbrook in particular was a model bubble citizen. He always made sure his hotel room was “clean and in good shape,” and he reportedly left an $8,000 tip for the housekeepers. (When we spoke, Westbrook confirmed he wrote a thank-you note and left a good tip, but wouldn't confirm the amount: “The money doesn't matter. I just like to do the right thing. That's it.”)

there's some other great stuff I don't want to spoil

it got posted in the offseason thread but yes everyone should read it, really really good stuff.

oh right I'm dumb