LAGO BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Virtual fans and tubes in the noise of the crowd. A head-to-head showdown between two former Finals MVP played in front of a handful of real faces. A battle for Los Angeles about 3,000 miles from the Staples Center.
Lakers 103, Clippers 101.
The NBA is back.
Opening night on the NBA season restart finally came on Thursday, and what an odd experience. A late-season Lakers-Clippers game would be an almost impossible ticket in Los Angeles. Fans would pack LA Live hours before the game started. Resellers would have a field day. In the bubble, witnesses to this confrontation were a dozen members of the media, a few more NBA employees, and a handful of players who came by bus to watch from socially distant seats.
Lawrence Tanter, the legendary public speaking announcer for the Lakers, provided the presentations, prerecorded.
During waiting times, regular Lakers game entertainment is played on a screen on the court.
by who, exactly, it’s a little confusing.
The social justice movement that swept across the United States was emphasized during the NBA restart, and continued Thursday. Players fell to the ground in black jerseys, with BLACK LIVES MATTER printed on the front. Social justice messages replaced the names on the backs of the shirts. A two-minute video highlighting the motion that plays after warming up. Hours earlier, in a gym on a soccer field, the Pelicans and Jazz knelt for the national anthem. The Lakers and Clippers did the same, joining arms as a prerecorded performance from the Compton Kid’s Club rumbled through speakers hanging from the rafters.
As he knelt, his 58-year-old knee ached, Clippers coach Doc Rivers’ mind went to George Floyd, whose death on the knee of a Minnesota police officer ignited the movement.
“The hardest thing that happened to me today in the game was kneeling for two minutes,” Rivers said. “My knee would hurt. In the middle of that, I think in two minutes my knee hurts, however, there was a guy who had a knee in someone’s neck for eight minutes. There were boys who needed towels and things to get on their knees. And someone knelt on the neck of another human being for eight minutes. That’s crazy when you think about it.
The game, predictably, was not pretty. No one expected a three-week training camp and three practice games to remove the corrosive effects of a four-month break. And it was not so. The first quarter was abysmal. The two teams combined for 21 fouls. The Lakers made two of eight three-point attempts. That’s a rough shot compared to the Clippers, who missed all seven. Anthony Davis scored 14 points in the first quarter. The Lakers finished it with a 12-point lead.
The Clippers could have folded. It has been a difficult month for the other Los Angeles team. The list has been devastated by diseases and external problems. Two of the NBA’s sixth best men, Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell, did not play. Marcus Morris was late. Ivica Zubac, diagnosed with COVID-19 in late June, just returned to practice this week. Patrick Beverley is still working to get back into the game form.
The Clippers did not resign. They cut ten points off the Lakers’ lead in the second quarter. They built an 11-point lead in the third quarter. They had an advantage when entering the room. Paul George (30 points) and Kawhi Leonard (28) took over, raining three, nine of them, on the Lakers’ defenders.
A George triple equaled the game with 28 seconds remaining, and that’s when, again, you felt the strangeness of the moment. A tie game, two of the Western Conference elite, and in normal times a crowd of over 20,000 would roar. Instead, Rivers’ hoarse voice could be heard through the music. Beverley barked defensive instructions. When James pointed to his own foul with 13 seconds remaining, the only sound came from the Lakers’ bench.
James was not done either. In the Clippers’ final possession, James clung to Leonard. Bottled, Leonard gave the ball to George. James turned to him. With James on his hip, George attempted a triple imbalance that was erased.
One defensive possession, two elite defensive plays.
Not bad for a 35-year-old player in his seventeenth season.
“Rhythm, as far as offensively, making shots, those things are going to take a little more time to come back,” James said. “But all you can do is defend yourself. You can always communicate … you can have teammates behind you when you make a mistake. Communication on the defensive side is something that must always be punctual. ”
One less game, seven before the playoffs and both teams know there is work to be done. “For me, we have a long way to go to achieve the habits and discipline we were playing with when we entered the break,” said Frank Vogel. Conditioning remains a factor. Three point shooting percentages will increase. The in-game experience will continue to be an adjustment, with over 300 Lakers fans video conferencing to watch the game, as well as playing without the energy of a crowd.
“When we are playing, we don’t really realize that there are no fans in the game,” Davis said. “We just went out to compete and tried to win. They do a good job with the noise of the crowd … but when we are competing, it is just us … the more we use this field, the easier it will be. “
The games will not be pretty. The atmosphere will be strange. But more than four months after a global pandemic halted his season, the NBA is back. For the players, for the league, that’s all that matters.
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