Tag: NBA bubble

Grand Floridian champs? Rockets have NBA ‘bubble’ resort to themselves

“I like it,” Russell Westbrook said. “We get to go back to a campus where it’s just us. No other team, just us at the Grand Floridian.”

When NBA teams arrived at the Disney World “bubble” complex in July for the the restart of the 2019-20 season, they were segmented by seeding into one of three resort hotels: the Grand Destino, the Grand Floridian, and the Yacht Club. The Destino was for the eight teams seeded in the top four of their conference at the time of the NBA’s hiatus in March.

Meanwhile, the Floridian was for the eight teams seeded from five through eight, while the Yacht Club was for the six teams who entered the restart outside of the playoff picture altogether.

Though the Rockets ultimately finished No. 4 in the West for the regular season, they were No. 6 in early March, which meant a stay at the Grand Floridian. Now, after the first round of the playoffs and with only eight NBA teams left standing, nearly all are among the Destino group.

The Rockets, after their Game 7 victory over Oklahoma City, are the lone exception. That win effectively evicted the Thunder from their Grand Floridian hotel, leaving Houston as the lone residents.

“What I’m taking pride in is that our campus which housed, I think, eight teams, now we just have one,” Houston head coach Mike D’Antoni said after his team’s Game 7 victory.

“So we’re kind of lonely over there,” he added. “But it’s a great feeling. We’ll have the whole Grand Floridian section to ourselves, so it’s good.”

In a perfect world, Disney would have the Rockets join the other seven Grand Destino teams, since that would allow them to open up more of the property to sell to the general public. And with Utah sent home following a first-round series loss, there is room for Houston to move in.

But packing up and moving is a hassle during the playoffs, so the NBA is reportedly giving the Rockets the option to stay where they are until the conference finals (should they again advance).

According to All-Star guard Russell Westbrook, the Rockets have no interest in going anywhere. His comments from after Game 7:

I like it. We get to go back to a campus where it’s just us. No other team, just us at the Grand Floridian.

With the series victory, Westbrook and the Rockets now move on to the second round of the playoffs for a star-studded matchup versus LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. Tip-off of Game 1 is set for 8:00 p.m. Central on Friday, with the game broadcast nationally on ESPN.

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NBA releases second-round playoff schedule for Rockets vs. Lakers

Game 1 is set for Friday at 8:00 p.m. Central, with games held every other day at the NBA “bubble” until one team wins four times.

In what could be the most fascinating philosophical clash of the 2020 NBA playoffs, the Rockets and  Los Angeles Lakers will do battle in the second round of the 2020 NBA playoffs, starting Friday. Houston clinched its spot after defeating Oklahoma City in Wednesday’s Game 7.

The series will serve as the first career playoff meeting of James Harden versus LeBron James when both are starters. It features four All-Stars and three career MVPs between Harden, James, Russell Westbrook, and Anthony Davis. It offers the contrast of the massive size and power of the Lakers against the speed and shooting of the Rockets.

The top-seeded Lakers (52-19) were nearly 10 games better than the No. 4 Rockets (44-28) during the 2019-20 regular season, but Houston took two of three head-to-head meetings — including both after the well-publicized switch to a smaller lineup, which was likely made with the potential playoff matchup against the larger Lakers in mind.

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Game 1 between the Rockets and Lakers is set for 8:00 p.m. Central on Friday, with a national broadcast on ESPN. The Lakers will be the “home” team in Game 1, Game 2, and Game 5 and Game 7 (if necessary) — though with all games played at the Disney World “bubble” in Florida, home-court advantage shouldn’t mean what it usually does.

Games will be played every other day until one team wins four games, with the winner advancing to the Western Conference Finals. The complete schedule for the West semifinals can be viewed below.

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James Harden, LeBron James to renew Rockets vs. Lakers playoff rivalry

For the ninth time, the Rockets and Lakers will face off in a playoff series. That’s tied for the most of any playoff opponent for Houston.

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With the 2020 second-round matchup being their ninth postseason series against each other, the Houston Rockets haven’t had a more frequent opponent in the NBA playoffs than the Los Angeles Lakers.

Historically, the memorable battles have included the likes of Yao Ming versus Kobe Bryant in 2009, and Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson in 1986. The Lakers have won five of the eight completed series, overall.

Yet, the longtime rivals haven’t met in the playoffs since that 2009 clash, which was more than a decade ago.

That changes on Friday.

Courtesy of Houston’s Game 7 victory to close out the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Rockets — the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference, based on regular-season standings — advance to the West semifinals to face the No. 1 Lakers. Houston did take two of three meetings in the 2019-20 season, including both after switching to a smaller lineup.

There is no shortage of storylines. Headlined by LeBron James, Anthony Davis, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook, the series features four All-Stars and three career MVPs. Harden and James are among the defining stars of this generation of NBA basketball, yet the future Hall of Famers haven’t met in the playoffs since Harden became a starter in 2012.

On Friday, that battle finally arrives.

There’s also a fascinating philosophical clash. Led by the athletic, tall frontcourt of James, Davis, and JaVale McGee, the Lakers have held the West’s best record for nearly the entire season. So as the season’s trade deadline approached in February, the Rockets effectively decided that it wasn’t worth trying to beat the Lakers at their own game.

Instead, they pivoted the opposite direction and traded traditional big man Clint Capela for versatile forward Robert Covington.

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With that move, which was likely made specifically with the Lakers in mind, they’re looking to change the game entirely. Utilizing a small lineup featuring three guards (Harden, Westbrook, and Eric Gordon) and a frontcourt of Covington and 6-foot-5 P.J. Tucker at “center,” Houston isn’t trying to match up with the size and strength of the Lakers.

Rather, they’re trying to offset those clear advantages for the Lakers with speed and shooting, and by giving those big men “no one to guard.” In the 2019-20 regular season, Houston led the league with an average of 15.9 made 3-pointers, while the Lakers ranked No. 24 at 11.1 per game. On average, that makes for about a 15-point advantage for the Rockets in each game, which the Lakers must overcome in other areas.

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In the 2020 playoffs, the Rockets have averaged more than 19 made 3-pointers, whereas the Lakers are at 12 per game. That leads to a “math advantage” of about 21 points in each game for Houston.

That 3-point shooting, which spaces the floor by forcing big men to defend away from the basket, might also lead to more driving lanes for Westbrook. In his only game against the Lakers after Houston’s switch to a smaller lineup, Westbrook scored a game-high 41 points on 17-of-28 shooting (60.7%). Houston won by double digits.

None of that guarantees success for the Rockets, of course. After all, there’s a reason the Lakers (52-19) were nearly 10 games better than the Rockets (44-28) during the regular season.

The size and power of the Lakers might overwhelm Houston on the glass. Maybe the Rockets struggle to shoot 3-pointers at their usual efficiency, given the opponent’s extra length on closeouts. Perhaps Westbrook could still be limited in the series by his right quad strain.

It could also be that James, arguably the greatest basketball player of all-time, simply makes a few more plays in pressure situations and wills his team to the finish line as he seeks a fourth NBA championship.

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Harden, Westbrook, and the Rockets are clear series underdogs. But rather than trying to beat the Lakers at their own game, they’re attempting to change the paradigm altogether. That should make for a fascinating matchup once the second-round series gets underway.

Game 1 between the Rockets and Lakers is set for 8:00 p.m. Central on Friday, with a national broadcast on ESPN. The Lakers will be the “home” team in Game 1, Game 2, and Game 5 and Game 7 (if necessary) — though with all games played at the Disney World “bubble” in Florida, home-court advantage shouldn’t mean what it usually does.

Games will be played every other day until one team wins four games, with the winner advancing to the Western Conference Finals.

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Jamal Murray was so bummed by the Nuggets’ playoff schedule: ‘We play again on Thursday?!’

Good luck, Nuggets.

The NBA playoffs have been straight up exhausting so far. It’s all just so much to keep up with.

There are no back to backs, but teams are playing every other day. The second round of the playoffs has already begun for some, but the first round is still going on strong for others. And there’s just not much of a break in between.

It’s a lot of basketball, which is great! But it’s also a lot of basketball, which can lead to tired eyes for fans and, more importantly, tired legs for players — even without the travel.

Jamal Murray captured that feeling perfectly on Tuesday after completing a 3-1 series comeback against the Utah Jazz.

He was clearly gassed during a postgame interview with ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt. Van Pelt asked Murray what he’ll do to prepare to play the Clippers on Thursday, and Murray was absolutely (and hilariously) shocked by the question.

“Murray: We play Thursday?!

Van Pelt: Yeah.

Murray: We don’t get two days off?!

Van Pelt: No. Nah, it’s Thursday.” 

FAM. This expression says it all.

That is a man who is TIRED. Poor Jamal Murray. Poor Nuggets, really. Not only do they have to play again in two days. But they have to play again in two days against the Clippers, fam.

Just imagine. In two days, a dead tired Jamal Murray is going to play against a well rested Kawhi Leonard who hasn’t played since Sunday.

Yeah, good luck with that one, Nuggets fans. Great series though.

Tilman Fertitta on Rockets: ‘We forgot where the basket is’

Fertitta: “We’ve been great in all six games. The three that we’ve lost, we forgot where the basket is the last three minutes of the game.”

Like many people around the Rockets these days, owner Tilman Fertitta isn’t too pleased with the looming Game 7 in Houston’s first-round playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Rockets have won their three games by an average of more than 20 points per game — and they’ve led in the final two minutes of regulation in each of the other three contests. Only one needed to go Houston’s way for a series-clinching victory, yet none ultimately did.

With his team’s crunch-time woes at the forefront of many discussions on Tuesday, Fertitta made a joke at their expense during his weekly interview on CNBC’s Power Lunch. Among his comments:

We’ve been great in all six games.

The three that we’ve lost, we forgot where the basket is the last three minutes of the game.

Fertitta added that he was hopeful of a showdown between the Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round of the playoffs, noting that it would feature the No. 2 and No. 4 cities in the United States, by population. But for that to be a reality, everyone around the Rockets knows that they must win a decisive Game 7 on Wednesday night.

Game 7 between the Rockets and Thunder tips off at 8:00 p.m. Central, with a national broadcast on ESPN and a regional version (with Houston announcers) on AT&T SportsNet Southwest.

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Rockets blow another late lead with turnovers as Thunder force Game 7

The Rockets had 22 turnovers, and they were outscored by a 12-2 margin over the final four minutes as OKC forced a Game 7 on Wednesday..

Going into Game 6, Houston head coach Mike D’Antoni had stressed the importance of turnovers as a key indicator for his Rockets. In their three wins of the first-round series versus Oklahoma City, the Rockets averaged 8.3 turnovers; in two prior losses, that total ballooned to 14.5.

In Monday’s Game 6, that turnover figure exploded to a playoff-high 22, leading to a 104-100 Thunder victory (box score). A decisive, winner-take-all Game 7 is set for Wednesday night.

“We’re gonna respond,” D’Antoni said postgame. “We’ll clean up some things. We can’t play much worse. We’ll play better.”

Houston led by six with under four minutes remaining in regulation, but the Thunder closed the game on a 12-2 run. Eight of those points came by former Rocket Chris Paul, who scored a team-high 28 points — including a pair of free throws to break the tie with 13.1 seconds left.

With Houston trailing by two, Russell Westbrook then threw the ball out of bounds for his team-high seventh turnover of the game. Earlier in the final minute, Westbrook airballed a mid-range shot that would have given the Rockets the lead.

James Harden led Houston in the loss with 32 points (50% shooting) and seven assists. But excluding a heave at the buzzer — when the Rockets trailed by four and the game was already over — the MVP finalist only shot once over the final four minutes, when the game was decided.

It’s the latest in a troubling trend for the Rockets, whose three wins have come by an average of more than 20 points per game. In the three games (Game 3, Game 4, and Game 6) that have been there for the taking in the closing minutes, Houston has lost all of them.

“When it comes down to the last five minutes, they’re the best team in the league at it,” D’Antoni said of the Thunder.

“CP [Paul] does not miss foul shots, and he hits big shots,” he added. “We’ve got to do a better job before we get in the last five minutes. … Even with that, we still had our chances. We didn’t finish it off.”

Houston’s All-Star backcourt of Westbrook and Harden combined for 12 of the 22 turnovers, with “The Beard” registering the other five.

With their season officially on the line, the Rockets will play a do-or-die Game 7 on Wednesday night at the NBA “bubble.” Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m. Central, with a national TV broadcast on ABC.

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NBA 4-Point Play: Can the Boston Celtics win the East?

In the latest NBA 4-Point Play, Charles Curtis answers four questions we have since the start of the playoffs.

In the latest NBA 4-Point Play, Charles Curtis answers four questions we have since the start of the playoffs.

Over 15 years in league, Chris Paul has ‘never seen anything like’ NBA protest

Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Chris Paul said that he’s never seen anything like the NBA strike and that he’ll never forget it.

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The voices the NBA players were able to use publicly last week was a far cry from 15 years ago when Chris Paul joined the league.

It was different than six years ago, when Paul’s Los Angeles Clippers protested owner Donald Sterling but chose not to boycott or strike the game.

Over the days that athletes forced the NBA to postpone games, the now-Oklahoma City Thunder point guard said he hadn’t experienced anything like this.

“Fifteen years in this league and I’ve never seen anything like it,” Paul said. “Obviously I wasn’t the oldest one in the room, I think (Miami Heat center) Udonis Haslem was, but the voices that were heard, I’ll never forget it. I’ll never forget it.”

After the Milwaukee Bucks did not walk onto the court to play the Orlando Magic on Wednesday, the Magic and players on the other four teams scheduled to play that day also went on strike.

There was a meeting with players and coaches, where Black former NBA players and current coaches John Lucas of the Houston Rockets and Doc Rivers and Armond Hill of the Los Angeles Clippers spoke.

Then, athletes had a players-only meeting.

“Guys are tired. And I mean tired. And when I say tired, we’re not physically tired, we’re just tired of seeing the same thing over and over again,” Paul said.

The strike came in response to police shooting Jacob Blake, a Black man in Kenosha, seven times in the back.

The league agreed to three demands, all of which had a focus on voting: NBA governors will work with local officials to use arenas as voting sites; players, coaches and executives will form a social justice coalition; and more advertising time will be spent on encouraging voting and civic engagement.

“You get a chance to read and see pictures of the Cleveland Summit, for those who came before us, and the Muhammad Alis, and the Jim Browns and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbars, and how powerful they were,” Paul said.

“We’re not saying that we’re that, but what we’re doing right now in our league is huge.”

Paul thinks that younger players in the NBA will be able to use the experience to create more change within the league and society.

“I think for the young guys in our league, to get a chance to see how guys are really coming together and speak and see real change, real action,” he said.

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Report: Thunder among NBA teams that voted to continue playing

The Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers reportedly voted to not continue playing, while the other NBA teams voted to resume the playoffs.

After the strike on Wednesday in which the six NBA teams scheduled to play boycotted the games, players inside the bubble met to discuss how to proceed.

Among the results of the meeting: The Oklahoma City Thunder were one of the teams that voted to continue playing, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.

Every team still inside the bubble except the Los Angeles teams, the Lakers and Clippers, voted to continue playing.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Lakers’ and Clippers’ votes to not continue playing the season was “more of a polling, than a final vote” and that playoff resumption “remains still up in the air.”

Wojnarowski also tweeted that discussions will continue Thursday and that it is unlikely the games scheduled that day will take place.

ESPN’s Dave McMenamin reported that his source said players felt like they did not accomplish much in the meeting and that there is a “feeling of ‘uncertainty'” going into the night.

The Board of Governors are scheduled to meet at 11 a.m. Thursday.

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The strike was prompted by the Sunday incident in Kenosha, Wisconsin in which Jacob Black, a Black man, was shot in the back seven times by a police officer as he opened the door to his car.

The police had been responding to a domestic violence call. Blake’s family told ABC Chicago that Blake had gotten out of the car to try to break up the fight. Video shows police following him with their guns out as he walked back to his car, and after Blake opened the door, he was shot several times.

The Milwaukee Bucks, whose home stadium is less than an hour north of Kenosha, were the first NBA team to decide to strike. Their opponent, the Orlando Magic, joined in as game time approached.

Both the Bucks and Magic were among teams that voted to continue the season, according to Charania.

The Thunder and Houston Rockets were scheduled to play after them, but those two teams decide to strike as well. The Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers shortly followed suit.

Not long after, the NBA announced all games had been postponed, meaning there would be no forfeits.

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NBA postpones all games Wednesday after teams including Thunder boycott

After the Bucks, Magic, Thunder and Rockets boycotted their games to protest the response the shooting of Jacob Blake, the NBA announced all games Wednesday are postponed.

The Milwaukee Bucks boycotted Game 5 of their series against the Orlando Magic after the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The Magic followed suit, also boycotting the game.

Not long after, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets had also decided to boycott their game.

Then, Charania tweeted that the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers would not play either.

Minutes later, he reported that the NBA had decided to postpone all games Wednesday as the league and players decide what to do.

NBA players in the bubble will meet Wednesday night to discuss further steps, according to Charania.

With the announcement of the postponement, there officially will not be any forfeits from the players’ decisions Wednesday.

Blake was shot in the back seven times by a police officer on Sunday as he opened the door to his car. He survived but is paralyzed, the family’s attorney told CBS News.

Police had reportedly been called for a domestic incident. Blake’s family said Blake had gotten out of his car to try to break up the fight, according to ABC Chicago. Video shows police following him with their guns out as he walked back to his car, and after Blake opened the door, he was shot several times.

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