Bubble wrap: What we learned from the 2020 NBA playoffs

When the bubble began, many an expert picked the Clippers and Bucks to square off in the Finals when it was all said and done. However, what we learned throughout the bubble playoffs was that toughness and chemistry played an even larger part that it usually does. That's why, after three months inside the bubble, two teams left standing were the tight-knit Lakers and junkyard dogged-Heat. When the confetti finally hit the court, the team with the best player in the world, best player in his generation, and, perhaps, best player in NBA history, LeBron James, took home the Larry O'Brien Trophy. Though they Gentlemen Swept the Western Conference, and took care of the Heat in six games, it wasn't easy as the team had to persevere their way through the challenges of the bubble and overcome a couple of historic Finals performances by Jimmy Butler to claim their franchise's 17th NBA Championship. 

Anyone who believes this title means less than in other years can kiss my asterisk! Seriously. First off, there's no such thing as an Asterisk Title. We don't say things like, "Tim Duncan, winner of four championships and one asterisk championship, is the most fundamentally-sound player in NBA history", do we? No, we don't. Second off, explain to me how playing in a bubble in Florida during a pandemic for three months while the country was burning, with none of the usual amenities, no family or friends around, and no home court advantage gave one particular team an advantage over the rest of the field? If anything, this was the most fair championship of them all. In fact, as ESPN's Zach Lowe frequently puts it, the 2020 champion should wear this like a badge of honor.

LeBron James' legacy has been unassailable since he won a title for Cleveland in 2016. This Bubble Championship was the first exclamation point on what has been arguably the most impressive career in NBA history. After a down season in 2018-19, he regained his grip on the best player in the world status, he became a full-time point guard and led the NBA in assists (10.2 per game), he led the Lakers to the best record in the loaded Western Conference, and then, for good measure, he led the Lakers to a title without the benefit of home court advantage. He was the best player in the playoffs, averaging 27.6 ppg., 10.8 rpg. and 8.8 apg.,  and the best player in the Finals, averaging 29.8 ppg., 11.8 rpg. and 8.5 apg. Take a minute to appreciate his greatness and enjoy the twilight of his career - you won't see another player like him for a long, long time.  

It's fitting that Anthony Davis looks like Shaquille O'Neal in that picture because he played like Shaq all playoffs. Davis was a tour de force this postseason, averaging 27.7 ppg. and 9.7 rpg. in 21 games. He hit his first career game-winning buzzer-beater in the playoffs in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals. And, boy, did he play some defense. AD was easily the most impactful defender in the playoffs, doing everything from switching out onto some of the game's most elite guards in Damian Lilliard, James Harden, Russell Westbrook and Jamal Murray to slowing down Nikola Jokic and Bam Adebayo to even taking on the task of defending Jimmy Butler in the Finals. He blocked and deterred shots at the rim, he closed out on three-point shooters and he erased passing lanes on the weakside. He reminded everyone that he is capable of being the best player in the NBA on any given night and in any given series...and that should terrify the rest of the league.

It's poetic that the NBA Bubble began with Jimmy Butler dancing in a Michelob Ultra commercial and ended with him going toe-to-toe with the LeBron James, the greatest player of his generation, in the NBA Finals, averaging a preposterous 29.0 ppg., 10.2 apg. and 8.6 rpg. through the first five games before finally running out of energy in the Lakers' close out in Game 6. Along the way, Butler vanquished the two-time reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo in the Semi-Finals and the next great Celtic legend Jayson Tatum as well. We all knew that Butler was a very good player, even an All-NBA player, but good lord - I don't think anyone (besides Jimmy himself) knew that he had this  in him. To think that we used give Paul George the edge over Butler in NBA Top 100 lists....yikes.

Though he was already regarded as a Hall of Fame caliber NBA coach by most close NBA followers, this Finals run by the Heat really cemented Erik Spoelstra's legend as one of the best coaches in NBA history for the casual basketball fan. It was his fifth trip to the Finals, and his first without LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. He, along with the likes of Udonis Haslem, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, are the embodiment of Heat Culture. For the founder of Heat Culture, Pat Riley, this was a unsuccessful shot at revenge against LeBron James after their unharmonious split back in 2014. However, Riley has set Miami up to be a title contender for the next decade.

After a very promising regular season where he averaged 13.5 ppg. on 43-39-87 shooting, 20-year-old rookie Tyler Herro took a massive leap in the bubble playoffs and developed into a rising star. Not only did he post an excellent stat line in the playoffs (16.0 ppg., 5.1 rpg., 3.7 apg. with 43-38-87 shooting splits), he set the NBA record for most consecutive playoff games with 10 or more points by a rookie (20 games) and he became the youngest player to ever appear in a Finals game. Oh, and he also had a 37-point game in a pivotal Game 4 win over the Celtics in the Conference Finals - that's the second-most points ever in a playoff game by a rookie (Magic Johnson had 42). Before the playoffs, most expected Herro's ceiling to be an above-average starter. After the playoffs, we're looking at a future All-Star with ceiling in the Devin Booker range.

As many players remarked throughout the the past three months, the bubble reminded them of simpler times like when they used to travel to locations for AAU tournaments or elite basketball camps. Players would routinely bump into opponents at the hotels - recall Jamal Murray sitting out on the same patio area as Donovan Mitchell mere hours after their epic Game 1 duel. It wasn't just players either. The refs ran a competitive pickle ball league. Coaches and front office personnel would work out or golf or fish together as well. It'll be interesting to see what friendships and even future super teams will come from this once-in-a-lifetime (hopefully) bubble experience. 

In his time as the NBA's Commissioner, Adam Silver has been tasked with navigating the league through a number of controversies and obstacles. From his first (the Donald Sterling tapes) to the shutdown and ensuing Orlando Bubble, Silver's steady hand has been one of the few constants. The way he handled the bubble - ensuring that it was the most safe environment for its players, supporting players publicly and privately in their social justice movements, and helping fund a saliva-based coronavirus test - was yet another feather in his cap as the best commissioner of the four American major professional sports leagues. 

In one of the more memorable social justice statements of our time, on August 26th, in the wake of the Jacob Blake shooting, the Milwaukee Bucks, who were scheduled to play the Orlando Magic for Game 5 of their first round series that day, refused to take the court after a team discussion in the locker room. Over the next couple chaotic hours, the NBA decided to postpone all games. For a day or two, it looked as if the season was in jeopardy. After the players remaining in the bubble had multiple meetings to hash out whether they'd return and what should be done in response to the shooting, the players ultimately decided to resume playing - but not before the league and its teams established a plan for action. While the end to the Bucks' season was certainly a disappointment, they'll always been remembered for this momentous act.

It was impossible watch watch the NBA return without seeing and hearing calls for social justice reform and actions. Whether it was the majority of the players kneeling for the anthem, or the Black Lives Matters on the court, or hearing players like Jamal Murray giving emotional post-game interviews about victims of police violence, the league and its players made it a point to remind people of their stances on a nightly basis. Regardless of your political affiliation, people should be impressed by the amount of research many of the players did in an effort to understand issues, educate their followers and attempt to make a difference in their communities. 

If anyone ever asks you what people mean when they say "Player X has really taken a leap", don't attempt to explain it, just say "Jamal Murray in Bubble Playoffs". In the 2019-20 regular season, Murray averaged almost the exact same numbers as he had in 2018-19 (18.5 ppg., 4.8 apg., 4.0 rpg. on 46-35-88 shooting splits this season vs. 18.2 ppg., 4.8 apg., 4.2 rpg. on 44-37-85 shooting splits last season). In the 2020 playoffs, he averaged 26.5 ppg., 6.6 apg., 4.8 rpg. on 51-45-90 shooting splits!! He had two 50-point games and a 42-point game in Games 4, 5 and 6 in the first round. He also had a 40-point gem in a Game 7 victory over the heavily-favored Clippers. 

Nikola Jokic quietly put on a superstar performance in the 2019 NBA playoffs (25.1 ppg., 13.0 rpg., 8.4 apg. with 51-39-85), leading the Nuggets to a Game 7 victory in the First Round and a Game 7 defeat in the Semi-Finals. This year, Jokic loudly put on another superstar performance (24.4 ppg., 9.8 rpg., 5.7 apg. with 52-43-84 shooting), leading the Nuggets two improbable 3-1 comebacks in the first two rounds - including one against the championship-favorite Clippers. While his numbers fell off slightly, that an can attributed to Jamal Murray's emergence, his impact was as important as ever as he hit a number of clutch shots and played his tail off in all of the comeback wins. He was a sleeper MVP before this season. He'll a bonafide MVP candidate for the next five-to-eight years. 

After a historically great regular season that saw them become the 12th team in NBA history to have a double-digit point differential (plus-10.1 ppg.), the Bucks fell apart during the bubble and got smoked by the Heat in five games in the semi-finals. Had this been the 2018-19 playoffs following Giannis Antetokounmpo's first MVP and the first season under Mike Budenholzer, a second round exit to a rugged team like the Heat would have been a little more understandable. But after a strong Conference Finals appearance last year, another MVP for Giannis, and another first-place regular season with the best record in the NBA, this was a disasterous finish - especially considering Giannis could be an unrestricted free agent by this time next year. 

On paper, the Clippers had the best roster in the NBA. Kawhi Leonard was coming off a Finals MVP and was considered the best player in the league by many. Paul George was only a season removed from a third-place MVP finish. Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell, winners of the past three Sixth Man of the Year Awards, were among the league's best pick-and-roll duo. Pat Beverley and Marcus Morris were high-level role players. And yet, for all their perceived talent, and for all their bark (recall Beverley and Pandemic P mocking Damian Lillard for missing late-game free throws during an important seeding game), this team absolutely wilted in the bubble. The team barely beat the seventh-seeded Mavericks, almost succumbing to a 21-year-old one-man offense in Luka Doncic - despite having arguably the two best wing defenders in the NBA (Leonard and PG13). Then, after jumping out to a 3-1 lead over the Nuggets, blew double-digit leads in the next three games to a very young and inexperienced Denver team. Coach Doc Rivers fell on the sword after the season, but Pandemic P, Williams and Harrell failed him when the team needed them the most. 

The Eastern Conference Finals between the Heat and the Celtics was one of the more entertaining and evenly matched series in the playoffs. Game 1 was a back-and-forth thriller that concluded with an unstoppable force (Jayson Tatum) meeting an unmovable object (Bam Adebayo) at the rim in the final seconds with Tatum trying to hammer home a win with an poster dunk. Unfortunately for Tatum, Bam was there to make one of the most impressive blocks in NBA playoff history as he somehow had the shoulder and wrist strength to stunt Tatum's powerful dunk attempt at the cylinder. With the clutch block, Miami was able to secure Game 1 and went on to win the series in six. Who knows what would have happened had Bam not made that play.

Because of the pandemic shutdown, the Raptors had the longest single-season title defense in NBA history. Despite losing Kawhi Leonard in free agency, Toronto played so well during the regular season (second-best record in the East) and bubble that they were considered actual title contenders when the playoffs began. Even after the Celtics took a commanding 2-0 series lead, the Raptors refused to go quietly - winning Game 3 on a crazy buzzer-beating three-pointer by OG Anunoby off a physics-bending inbound pass from Kyle Lowry over the outstretched tree limbs of Tacko Fall. The series eventually went to a do-or-die Game 7, and the Celtics advanced with a Jayson Tatum masterpiece (29 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists). Kudos to both teams for giving it their all. 

What's not to love about this kid? After winning Rookie of the Year, he made one of the biggest leaps we've seen out of a second-year player since...LeBron James? For the season, Doncic averaged 28.8 ppg., 9.4 rpg. and 8.8 apg. and made First Team All-NBA. Then, in his first playoff series, against the title-favorite Clippers, he upped his game to a new level, averaging 31.0 ppg., 9.8 rpg. and 8.7 apg. and pushed heavily-favored Clippers to six games. In perhaps the best game anyone played this postseason, Luka scored 43 points, grabbed 17 rebounds, dished out 13 assists, and nailed an at-the-buzzer, in-your-face three-pointer to win Game 4 and tie the series. It was a game that we'll someday look back on like we look back on MJ's shot over Craig Ehlo and LeBron's 29 of his team's last 30 points against the Pistons game. It was the first of many great playoff moments Doncic will have in his pantheon-worthy career. I can't wait for what's in store for next year with this kid. 

While LeBron, Jimmy, AD and others have given us a ton of excitement in the playoffs, we'd be remiss to forget about how great Damian Lillard was during the seeding games and play-in game. With Portland 3.5 games back of Memphis for the eight seed, Lillard went nuclear over his first eight games in the bubble, averaging an absurd 37.6 ppg. and 9.6 apg. on 50-44-89 shooting splits. In the final three absolute must-win games, he scored 51, then 61, then 42!! It wasn't just the sheer statistics either - Lillard was making highlight reel plays and routinely hitting shots from the logo. It was a spectacular stretch and a reminder that the NBA has so many special, future Hall of Fame players in their primes right now.  

Imagine getting invited to the bubble, going a perfect 8-0 out of nowhere, and still missing the damn play-in game. That's exactly what happened to Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns earlier this summer. Of the many fascinating subplots heading into the bubble, the one that interested me the most was seeing which players made a leap during the four-month shutdown. People will obviously remember the leaps of guys like Jamal Murray, Donovan Mitchell and Tyler Herro, but they would be remiss to forget about Booker's eight-game explosion in Orlando where he averaged 30.5 ppg., 6.0 apg. and 4.9 rpg. on 50-31-94 shooting. He not only displayed superstar ability, but even nailed an impossible buzzer-beater in the face of Kawhi Leonard to beat the Clippers. His breakout, combined with Deandre Ayton's continued improvement, should have the bright future Suns in the playoff mix in the difficult West next season.

Despite having to finish the 2019-20 season in a bizarre bubble format that brought certain teams closer together and fractured others, NBA coaches in the bubble were not immune from losing their jobs. Five coaches of playoff teams will not return in 2020-21: Mika D'Antoni (Rockets); Nate McMillan (Pacers); Doc Rivers (Clippers); Billy Donovan (Thunder); and Brett Brown (76ers). Jacque Vaughn (Nets) also went from being an interim head coach to an assistant for Steve Nash next season. So far, Rivers (76ers) and Donovan (Bulls) have taken other jobs, and the rest of the aforementioned jobs remain vacant at this time. 

Settle down there, Danuel House!! When the bubble concept was originally released to the public, one of the more humorous plot lines was identifying which player(s) would blow off the bubble rules and try to sneak girls in or try to sneak out of the bubble. As it turns out, NBA players, for the most part, are more mature than we give them credit for. Despite being essentially locked inside a bubble with almost all men, the league only had a couple of bubble gaffes - most of which happened in the first couple of days. Kings forward Richaun Holmes accidentally left the bubble to pick up a food order and Rockets forward Bruno "two years away from being two years away" Caboclo inadvertently left his room during the league's initial mandatory quarantine. Both had to quarantine for an additional eight days before rejoining their respective teams. Besides that, the only other real issues were players like Lakers center Dwight Howard and Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. making bizarre anti-vaccination statements. Oh, and the time the aforementioned House apparently snuck a room service worker back onto campus for a night. He and the Rockets paid a hefty price as he had to leave the Bubble and miss Games 3 through 5 of Houston's second round loss to the Lakers.

A ton of individual legacies were added to during the Orlando Bubble, but what about the bubble itself? While almost everything in 2020 has fallen short of expectations, the bubble was one of the few things that greatly exceeded expectations. Not only were there no COVID outbreaks (172 games without a positive test), but the games were highly competitive and even somewhat normal looking and sounding. The bubble environment was safe and as comfortable as possible for the players. The league and Disney did a wonderful job of making the best of a terrible situation. When we're (hopefully) watching the 2021 NBA Finals with euphoric fans in the stands, we'll elated because things are back to normal, but we'll also recall that things weren't all that bad in 2020 considering the circumstances. Finally, we couldn't celebrate the legacy of the bubble without shouting-out to Keith Smith for popularizing the original Orlando Bubble concept. 

Seemingly every week during the bubble, a writer would report that the NBA's TV ratings were plummeting when compared to the past playoffs or finals. That report would be lazily aggregated by the masses and people would freak out. From there, professional provocateurs would push their nonsense "people don't want to turn on sports and see players making political statements" agendas to the masses.

Don't fall victim to this propaganda. The TV ratings reporting has been shockingly lazy and provides little-to-no context when compared to other live sports. Context like, you know, the fact that every single live sporting event and sports league is suffering from the same ratings drop - from the NFL (yes, even the NFL's ratings are down 11 percent) to the MLB to the NHL (less than five percent of the NHL is comprised of black players) to even horse racing (don't you just hate it when those darn horses kneel during the anthem?). People are consuming sports differently than they have in the past and the NBA and other professional leagues are learning how to respond to those changes and account for the diminishing importance of those ratings. They'll all be just fine and will score monster TV and media deals in the next few years, just like they always do.

As the NBA should be applauded for everything they accomplished with the Orlando Bubble, they're not quite out of the woods as the 2020-21 season has an unknown start date, a likely renegotiation of the collective bargaining agreement, and the uncertainty as to whether teams will be able to have a profitable amount of fans in the arenas. The players and coaches will get a much deserved "summer" break, but the league will have a number of looming financial constraints and major challenges ahead. One of the important things to keep an eye on is how the league will handle the salary cap after the league lost an inordinate amount of revenue due to the pandemic. Will they smooth the cap and allow some cap-strapped teams to have a little flexibility? Will they give every team an amnesty like it has in the past? It will be fascinating to see how the next few months play out as it could have major implications on the next decade.