The 2020-2021 NBA season started quickly after the conclusion of the Orlando Bubble and has brought about much speculation and criticism after the short turnaround. As the start of the 2021 NBA Playoffs kicked off, it has become evident that a few teams that made deep runs in the playoffs last season have been severely impacted. The latest one to be knocked out was LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, and it's kicked off quite an interesting debate.
The Boston Celtics made the Eastern Conference Finals in the bubble and lost in five games against the Brooklyn Nets in the first round. The Miami Heat won the East and took the Lakers to six games in the bubble, then got ousted in a four-game sweep against the Milwaukee Bucks.
And now the Lakers have lost in the first round– for the first time in LeBron James' storied career- to the Phoenix Suns in a six-game series. Plain and simple, all three of these teams were hurt badly by the short turnaround from the grueling regular season and then bubble run after the restart of the NBA season.
In fact, the Denver Nuggets are the only one of the conference finalists from 2020 left in the playoffs, and even they were dealt a major blow with a season-ending injury to point guard Jamal Murray.
Denver is the only conference finalist from last season's bubble playoffs to reach Round 2 of these playoffs.
Lakers and Miami, after an NBA Finals duel in October and a 71-day offseason, go out in Round 1.
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 4, 2021
71 days between the last game of the Finals and the start of the regular season for the Lakers and Heat. Plain and simple, that is not nearly enough time. It's a travesty, and the league rushing things back that quickly was always a bit of a head-scratching decision.
Moreso, as Kirk Goldsberry of ESPN reported, the 71-day layoff was the shortest in the entire history of the NBA.
Timely reminder that the Lakers had the shortest offseason in league history at just 71 days pic.twitter.com/CAIR6N3xRj
— Kirk Goldsberry (@kirkgoldsberry) May 30, 2021
First, give credit where it is due, as the Nets, Suns, and Bucks are all terrific teams. As Goldsberry reports, the average gap was 141 days, so the Lakers and Heat had half of that. That is not ideal for any team in any situation.
To that point, the bubble was already grueling in every single way– mentally, physically, emotionally. The players and coaches had to be essentially locked up in a hotel with limited access to their families for months on end. They went back to their hotel rooms night after night, and they played in empty gyms for the most important games of the season.
It was taxing, it was daunting, and yet these teams had to come back and start a 72-game regular season in not even three months. New teammates, new coaches, still empty arenas, no fans, and just like that it was back to the daily regular-season grind.
Regardless of the results, it was a huge mistake by the NBA to rush the teams back to action for those reasons. After all, what was the rush?
For now, enjoy the remainder of the NBA Playoffs, but the league will have some serious thinking to do regarding the next NBA calendar in an attempt to save face after much backlash all season long.
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