USA Today’s Mark Medina talks life in the Disney restart bubble, Heat – Celtics and more in this brand new interview.
The NBA has been in the Disney restart bubble playing games since the end of July, and with that most unusual of situations came the difficulties of covering those games, with only a handful of media members getting the nod.
And one of those reporters was USA Today’s own Mark Medina, who recently made a guest appearance on “The Playgrounder” podcast to talk bubble life and his thoughts on the Boston Celtics – Miami Heat Eastern Conference Finals series among many topics.
“I was in the bubble for two months, almost — July 12 to September 9 — and then I switched out with my colleague Jeff Zillgitt,” explained Medina. “The last week and a half, I’ve been back to doing the Zoom calls and watching TV.”
“But yeah, I did the almost two-thirds of it. It was surreal to say the least.”
Now back home from the Disney NBA campus, it’s back to life among us plebs — does Medina miss being front and center now that he’s left?
“Yes and no;” he opined, “I would say predominantly, yes because that’s where the action is when you’re in this field.”
“That’s what it’s about; there’s a lot of stories. But, I think if you were to use an analogy, and some of us, like players that are logging 40-45 minutes a night, at some point, you’ve got to hit a reset, because the body’s not [supposed to] function to just work from 10am to 3am for 55 days in a row — but it was fun.”
There have been some interesting takes as to why Miami jumped out to an early 2-0 series lead against Boston, from their own ‘Heat culture’ mythos to guesses about their supposedly superior conditioning.
For Medina, it’s a little more complex.
“Jimmy Butler is really good, and the Heat have a good culture, and when you’re looking at this whole, unique bubble setup, where everything was on the table, that the Heat [were] going to be one of these teams that would benefit because they have veteran players. And they have the culture where they were able to win the pandemic — a lot of the guys were still being able to be in shape.”
It’s not just the physical aspect of struggling to stay locked in through such an unusual situation in the USA Today analyst’s estimation, though.
“I think they also had the mental strength to get through the craziness of [being in the bubble],” noted Medina. “I can speak from experience; you always had to keep the big picture in mind.”
“You have a good setup, you’re healthy and working. But that amount of time, away from family and that amount of time of doing the same thing every other day, without really a moment to just relax and recharge, it wears on you. I think that the Heat, because of their makeup, they were able to navigate those things better than maybe other teams.”
When it comes down to it, in both of the first two games, both were decided on very small margins and could have easily gone the other way with a few friendly bounces or calls.
But Medina believes that despite Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Jayson Tatum having experience making deep playoff runs, the older veterans on Miami held the advantage in such situations.
“[Miami] develops guys to be ready for these moments where the Celtics they have continuity, and a lot of young talent, but I think part of the reason why they folded in crunch time is they don’t they’re still young. I think that was the main thing and it all falls under. That’s like the main umbrella and then the zone that’s like one of many things that that falls under that same category.”
“I think when you’ve looked at this any team could have won any game,” said Medina.
“I still think that Miami has the edge but it’s it’s respectable enough that it’s not going to be this four in one series. I think it’ll be in six or seven games.”
Be sure to check out the podcast in its entirety — there’s plenty more analysis of the series, and some tidbits about the bubble you won’t find anywhere else.
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