Los Angeles (AFP)
After a time-out of four and a half months due to the coronavirus, the game will resume in the NBA, from July 31 at Disney World (Florida), where will be crowned a champion among the 22 teams affected by an end of season in camera unpublished clos.
The announcement, made Thursday by the league, was awaited by all basketball fans. It was still necessary for this that the recovery plan for the season was approved by at least three-quarters of the 30 franchise owners. In the end, 29 gave the green light.
"This approval is the first step among many necessary to resume the championship," said the league. The next should be a formality Friday, the players' union (NBPA) in turn to follow suit.
Still provisional, the date of July 31 should mark the return to play four and a half months after the positive test at Covid-19 of the French pivot Rudy Gobert (Utah Jazz) which led to the suspension of the season. Its epilogue is scheduled for October 12 at the latest if the finals are played in seven matches.
All the meetings will take place at Disney World in Orlando, more precisely on the huge site "ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex", which recalls that the sports channel, like ABC, is a subsidiary of the Disney group. This makes things easier for TV broadcasts.
This complex has a 5,000-seat hall, the HP Field House, and hotels capable of accommodating delegations and officials.
- Possible dam -
On the sporting side, the 22 teams concerned are the first eight of each conference on the evening of March 11: Milwaukee, Toronto, Boston, Miami, Indiana, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Orlando East / Lakers, Clippers, Denver, Utah, Oklahoma City , Houston, Dallas, Memphis to the West. As well as the six clubs that are six wins or less from 8th place in each conference: New Orleans, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, San Antonio to the West, and only Washington to the East.
Each team will first play eight regular season games.
This will allow the NBA to honor its contractual commitments for television rights, therefore to bring money to franchises affected by large losses of income (40%) due to the lack of ticketing.
Then it will give players, long deprived of competition, the opportunity to gain momentum and recover their rhythm before the play-off games.
At the end of these matches, the play-off table will be almost known, since the first seven of each conference will be directly qualified. The 8th and last sesame will be, in the East as in the West, the object of a possible barrage.
Two scenarios will be possible. If the 9th is more than 4 games behind the 8th, the latter is directly qualified for the play-offs, without playing a play-off. If the 9th is 4 matches or less behind the 8th, the two face off in the play-off. The 8th must win once to qualify, the 9th must win twice.
- Knee down? -
This plan excludes the eight lowest ranked championships, all conferences combined, and therefore marks the end of the season for Charlotte, Chicago, New York, Detroit, Atlanta, Cleveland, Minnesota and Golden State.
Adam Silver has always conditioned the resumption of the season on the possibility of carrying out the necessary number of tests, without depriving the rest of the population. On this point, it therefore seems to have the guarantees. The Athletic reports that screenings will begin on June 22.
It remains to refine the security protocols against the coronavirus, between temperature measurements, wearing of masks, social distancing ...
If the NBA is about to rebound in the wonderful world of Disney, the real one in which players are currently swaying between the uncertainties and worries, linked to the coronavirus, and the anger and indignation accumulated for ten days since the death of George Floyd after an arrest.
"We recognize that our society is shaken by the recent tragedies of racial violence and injustice. We will continue to work with our teams and our players to use our collective resources and influence to solve these problems in very concrete ways," said Adam Silver.
The possibility of some players kneeling on the ground in Florida exists. What would not fail to speak, but would testify to the vitality of the NBA, determined to avoid an annus horribilis, between diplomatic crisis with China, tragic death of Kobe Bryant and pandemic of coronavirus always present, on which the dunks do just waiting to be slammed.
© 2020 AFP