- A spectator and referee squared off at a girls travel team game in Indiana setting off a melee that police are investigatingPosted 10 hours ago
- Adia Barnes combined coaching and motherhood when she breastfed her child during the NCAA women’s finalsPosted 2 weeks ago
- Craig Drezek, a Connecticut educator, after being a basketball star in high school and college, was only 49 when coronavirus took his lifePosted 4 weeks ago
- Texas Western, the first All-Black starting team in an NCAA tournament, changed the landscape of college basketball, and continues to be commemorated 55 years laterPosted 2 months ago
- March Madness 2021: Which teams are national title favorites?Posted 2 months ago
- Before Anthony Fauci became a doctor, he grew up as a sports junkie and was captain of the Regis High School basketball teamPosted 2 months ago
- When Jack Ferguson died from coronavirus, a college he attended may have been the first to suffer the loss of two of its basketball players in the pandemicPosted 3 months ago
- Dee Rowe, who had covid-19, was a coaching icon, but his talents as a college player were ignored by most of the media when he died at 91Posted 3 months ago
- With Quickley and Toppin, Knicks have finally found young core to build aroundPosted 3 months ago
- How did two teams in the Patriot League manage an unlikely 46-point turnaround in back-to-back games? Or, what a difference a day makesPosted 3 months ago
Which teams will surprise in the NBA bubble?
- Updated: July 8, 2020
The NBA is set to return in just a few weeks, and we can’t wait to see the world’s best basketball back on the court. It’ll look a lot different from the futuristic biosphere that they’ve set up down in Orlando, and all of the uproar means that perhaps the most predictable of American sports could get downright crazy.
There are so many variables, from who might have the coronavirus– or who might get it– to who’s been keeping themselves in shape, to which players actually had a hoop in their driveway to use during quarantine. Seriously, Giannis? But with all of the uncertainty, it’ll be worthwhile to keep an eye on SBD’s odds page for updated betting lines on all NBA games as we get closer to the playoffs.
So for an idea of some of the surprises we could see once the bubble inflates at the ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando, keep on reading:
A Raptors Repeat
No joke. People seem to think that when Kawhi Leonard ended his one-year sabbatical in Canada, the Raptors’ chances at a second straight title evaporated. But nobody told Nick Nurse, Pascal Siakam, Fred Van Vleet and the rest of this proud group of defending champs that.
Toronto will enter the bubble at 46-18, which is the exact same record the Raptors had through 64 games last season, with Kawhi. Siakam has taken yet another leap in his development, and now has the chance to prove that he can be the No. 1 option on a legitimate title contender.
A lot of so-called experts have decided that Boston and maybe Philadelphia (?!) are the only teams in the East that can challenge Milwaukee come playoff time, but that’s disrespectful to this confident, feisty group. They’ll be fiercely looking to defend their title.
A Cinderella In The Bubble?
The Mavericks have quietly had an outstanding season behind the prodigious Luka Doncic, and they were in prime position to surprise some people once the playoffs began. Dallas is 40-27, and despite its current position as the No. 7 seed, sits just 3.5 games behind Denver for the No. 3 spot in the West. With home court advantage nullified and with another training camp to get Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis more court time together, this team could make some moves once the tournament begins.
Blazers Playoff Streak Continues?
Perhaps no team benefits more from the the sabbatical than the Portland Trail Blazers, who will get injured bigs Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins back for the restart. Nurkic’s loss had been huge for Portland this season, and it was clear that the Blazers were not the same team without his presence inside. Now, this team resembles the group that ran all the way to the Western Conference Finals last season. There’s some ground to make up, but if they can finish within three games of the Memphis Grizzlies (they’re currently 3.5 back), they’ll get a chance to play their way in, thanks to the 8-9 play-in quirk that the NBA has added. Expect the Blazers to win that game, and to advance to the playoffs for the seventh straight year.