This past Sunday happened just as the stars had predicted. Upon the initiation of The NBA Restart, there has been this constant rumor that The Los Angeles Lakers would win what has been dubbed "the longest season.” Following so many hurdles both on the court and in society, LeBron James lead his latest team to their 17th championship, tying with The Boston Celtics for most wins. It’s a move that elevated James to an even higher echelon, altering the conversation on his greatness. After all, how many 36-year-old players are capable of winning Finals MVP? This was a story of perseverance with a few symbolic roadblocks in the death of legend Kobe Bryant, the rise of The Black Lives Matter Movement and COVID-19.
In every case, The Lakers were there to stand tall, encouraging society to search for justice. You can disagree with their style of play, but there’s no denying that James ended the season reminding audiences why basketball remains a vital sport. In a time where the president may have given thousands personally The Coronavirus, The NBA managed to pull off the rare feat of a 0% positivity rate from active players. This wasn’t supposed to look so easy. Even the lack of a crowd was supposed to have a jarring quality. Instead, it all worked.
Of course, there’s a handful of factors that would suggest that this didn’t. As Los Angeles Clippers’ Paul George would claim, he had been suffering depression and inadequacy in The Bubble. The Milwaukee Bucks would need to boycott games to raise awareness of the murders in Kenosha, WI. James made sure to let the world know every second he could about why Breona Taylor deserved justice. There was a sense that even if this was a fun time and a miracle that nothing major outside of court injuries, that there was a world out there needing their voices just as strongly. At the end of the day, it’s up to the viewer to determine if the slogans like “Say Their Names” and “Black Live Matter” on their jersey actually made a difference. If nothing else, they were consistent, and their ability to be transparent about their pain in spite of ongoing series is an impressive accomplishment.
In a lot of ways, The NBA Restart became more of a question as to what it meant to be a leader. Sure, most directly it meant on the court, where coaches and teammates worked together to score the most points. However, it was one where players had to comment on the world around them. With politicians choosing to forgo workloads in favor of taunting basketball players, there was a need to be vocal. Going back even to the start of the 2019-2020 season where The Houston Rockets’ Daryl Morey criticized The Chinese government over their handling of an ongoing protest, there was an awareness of how powerful this leagues’ words meant. The Rockets are still banned in China.
The leaders spoke volumes in major ways, painting “Black Lives Matter” onto the court, with commercials finding every player in various BLM protests nationwide. There were stories of how players drove hours to support various rallies. Everything felt conscientious of how these players were predominantly Black and in need of unity and support, having those with power speak up and keep messages alive. People like Breonna Taylor had their names written onto sneakers and mentioned in interviews. Others supported on an economic level, with many players like The New Orleans Pelicans’ Zion Williamson donating part of his salary to employees. Elsewhere there was The Rockets’ Russell Westbrook, who tipped the staff at The Bubble’s hotel $8000.
There were small ways where even the players who weren’t that vocal made a difference this season. It felt that even in competition everyone was unified in fighting for civil rights. It’s an incredible moment and one that feels unprecedented. For the first time, it was difficult to think of The NBA as an organization and not think that they were merely existing. They were doing their part to raise awareness on every tragic new event, even supporting voting initiatives and efforts to support local communities. There was a pride in their identity and one that may have changed their overall image for the best.
Sure, the time between the initial shutdown in March and The Restart in August was a mitigated mess. Once it was announced that The Utah Jazz’s Rudy Gobert caught the virus (after joking that he didn’t), there was concern that basketball would never come back. For months the best that could be achieved were lackluster Zoom events, like tournaments involving NBA2K and an unexceptional H.O.R.S.E. tournament. Nothing could replace the experience of just watching two teams compete. More importantly, it provided a shared experience and something to keep us excited in these dreaded times. Sure, The Last Dance (2020) did that for a few weeks, but it was clear that reruns weren’t going to cut it for long.
More than anything, we wanted closure. We wanted answers that the cliffhanger frustrated us with. Would The Milwaukee Bucks pull through? Was Williamson on his way to Rookie of the Year over a more deserved Ja Morant of The Memphis Grizzlies? Frankly, the only ones who benefited from the downtime were those who were injured or started late. The most noteworthy example was The Miami Heat’s Andre Iguodala, who seemed to have been a dud trade prior to the shutdown but managed to land his sixth consecutive year to The Finals and I’d argue kept them alive after Goran Dragic and Bam Adebayo was temporarily injured. But honestly, what was going to be the outcome of the sport?
Among the most amusing surprises was how The Eighth Seed played out, at one point finding The Charlotte Hornets outranking active teams. It was fun to imagine that The Portland Trailblazers stood ANY chance of getting beyond the first round. It was brutal to watch The Pelicans – the favored team – stumble immediately. The saddest story came when The Phoenix Suns had the best record of any team in The Bubble… and still couldn’t duke it out for The Eighth Seed.
If nothing else, The Bubble really showed who the best players were going to be going forward. It was the belief that The Suns are going to be even greater next season. It’s that The Heat’s Jimmy Butler deserves to be considered one of the best players. Even the idea that The Denver Nuggets managed to surprise everyone and get to the second round of playoffs after two intense Game 7’s against The Jazz and The Los Angeles Clippers should suggest that a lot has changed since the shutdown but, more importantly, the regular season doesn’t always represent the players at their fiercest. Or, in the case of The Clippers, the downtime caused what gelled about the team to suffer from an embarrassing loss after a 3-1 lead.
Still, nothing was really preparing for the final notes of The Lakers, who had one of the biggest stories of the season. With new management, they were aiming for a redemption story that followed a season where James was on the bench for the final few months. Add in a trade that landed them the perfect wingman in Anthony Davis, and the team was looking more like the dominant force they needed. When James was taking it easy, Davis would do the heavy-lifting, making his first playoff outing an exceptional one. While there were occasional run-ins with potential injuries, they persevered.
They were somehow both the team everyone predicted with boring accuracy to win as well as the comeback kid story. For someone who made history by winning The NBA Finals with THREE different teams, he seemed like a hero. He broke a decade-long drought of not winning, restoring their legacy, and doing so in a year that unfortunately marked the passing of Kobe Bryant and David Stern. There was something symbolic that Lakers fans rallied behind, that everything was falling into place. Given that the rest of the team could coast on the shoulders of James and Davis, it felt like a predictable year.
To The Heat’s credit, they landed a Game 6 out of the deal. From The Lakers’ standpoint, one could argue that it was designed to be a weekend game so that they could carry the news further than if they won on Friday in Game 5. Either that, or it was the most antagonistic way to drain The Heat of their energy. By the end, The Heat’s star players were depleted. Tyler Herro, having an impressive year as a rookie, missed easy lay-ups. Adebayo never had a close-up where he didn’t look like he had been dunked in a pool. It was clear from the opening quarter that this was it. Eventually up by 36 points before dipping back down to 13, it was clear immediately that The Lakers were bringing this baby home.
In a strange season that at times seemed like it would end as a toss-up, it’s a miracle that this moment came at all. In a time where The White House had an exponential amount of Coronavirus cases, when Michigan governors were being targeted by homemade terrorists, when California is suffering a premature fire season, it’s strange to know that one thing happened almost perfectly. As much as one can complain that The Lakers played too aggressively, injuring THREE players on The Heat in Game 1, it seems trivial to the idea that this is one of the few things to have a conclusion. You can almost forgive your team not winning because they did so with very few kinks in the system.
As I’ve mentioned several times on this website, I wanted to see The Bucks and The Clippers go up against each other. They were both out in the first round in unceremonious fashion. I’ve even argued that The Lakers were not a great team. But hey, I don’t fault those who have been more supportive of this L.A. team than I have. I’m glad things worked out for you and I remain impressed that you guys have won championships in every decade since the 1940s (except the 60s). I may disagree with how you play your game, but I guess it worked enough to impress the referees.
More than anything, it’s impressive to note that there are ways to do a 2020-20201 season and have it work. There are ways to keep basketball alive. Even as the pandemic shuts down almost every other major institution, we should take a time to recognize this miracle. Up until the last game, there was a chance that anything could go wrong. A controversial protest could cause another boycott. Somebody could be mysteriously sick. So much could go wrong, and it didn’t. It’s the light of optimism that we needed in 2020, in a time where it’s becoming clear that the remaining two months aren’t going to be as holly jolly as they usually are.
So to everyone who made The NBA Restart (and the whole season) a success, I want to say thank you. Not only did you provide great basketball, but you never lost sight of what was important in the world. The constant conversation suggested that everyone should care more about the world and our presence in them. We all have the chance to make our voices heard, and hearing people of James’ stature only legitimizes it. There is a need for change and, provided this isn’t just some fluke, it feels like it will be one of the few noteworthy things we take from 2020.
I look forward to seeing how the next season will start because I now believe that there are ways to get around these hurdles and make them feel significant. Sure, there’s a lot wrong with the world and there’s plenty that needs to be fixed, but The NBA has felt like they’ve stepped up and tried to do their part. Along with The WNBA, they remain vocal and supportive of worthwhile causes, and I can only hope that remains true of not only this generation but everyone going forward. Together, positive change can be made that makes the world a better place. It starts by opening up a conversation and, more than anything, that’s what feels like was the big takeaway here.
Comments
Post a Comment