5 Things to Know About the NBA Season Restart

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It has been approximately four months since the start of the NBA’s hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic. However, the long wait is over because the NBA is back again and will restart their season on July 30.

The 2019-2020 season will continue at Walt Disney World located in Orlando and will be featuring a 22-team format. Out of the 30 teams, 22 will be playing eight games each that will determine their final seeding for the playoffs. To sum it up, there will be a schedule of 88 games that will take place in 15 days, which will approximately end in mid-August if everything takes place smoothly.

Race for the 8th Seed

Memphis, Sacramento, New Orleans, Portland, Phoenix, and San Antonio will be competing for the no. 8 seed for the Western Conference. There will be seven games where these teams will go against each other, which will also be featuring the Pelicans who will go against Sacramento twice, and one game each for Memphis and San Antonio. The other games will be featuring Memphis versus San Antonio, Sacramento versus San Antonio, and Portland versus Memphis.

However, Phoenix will not be playing against the other five teams for the no. 8 seed. Also, the Grizzlies will play against Portland with a three and a half lead. There will also be a game with New Orleans and Sacramento and a four-game edge against San Antonio.

The East, on the other hand, is a lot simpler. Brooklyn in no. 7 is six games ahead against Washington, and the Wizards are behind Orlando with five and a half games in no. 8.

A significant change of bookings will be in order for all bookmakers, so if you are planning on betting on the games, make sure to keep posted about the schedule and matches. However, if you are looking for an online betting site, try betmaster.

The Milwaukee Bucks’ Momentum

Before the coronavirus pandemic, the Bucks dominated the East conference. However, all of that came to a halt when the suspension of play occurred, and the 2019-2020 season stopped. That said, a lot of people wonder if the Bucks will return to dominate once the season restarts.

Most of the Bucks players are staying fit amidst the pandemic with their home workout equipment. However, Middleton and Antetokounmpo admitted that they didn’t play basketball during the start of the lockdown since they don’t have a hoop at home, especially that all practice facilities are closed. On the bright side, Budenholzer said that all of their team members have a mentality that they will be going back to play sooner or later and will continue to have that outlook during the restart of the season.

Team Adjustments

Although the restart of the season is a good thing, it will be hard for some players to suddenly get into a series of lightning-speed games and not have some difficulties. The last four months had people staying at home, which includes the players. This extended downtime will affect their level of play and their physical fitness.

Even if most of the players have easy access to physical fitness gyms, the adjustment time and training will not be enough in preparing for the games. There will be a heightened risk of injury and slow games due to the hiatus brought by the coronavirus pandemic.

Stay In Accommodations

All of the 22 teams that will be playing in the restart of the season will be staying at the Disney Campus for the rest of their games. That also includes Orlando Magic that has an arena only 20 miles from the campus.

Coronavirus Regulations

Since all of this is happening while the coronavirus is still raging, the NBA has put rules and regulations that all staff and players should follow to avoid contracting the virus. The basketball league issued a 100+ page document that talks about the safety precautions that will be taking place during the games and disciplinary actions that will be happening when somebody breaks them.

One thing that the document tackled is how the testing and quarantine will go involving a player. If a player has come up positive in a test, he will then be isolated and then retested to make sure that the initial result isn’t false. If the following tests are positive, the player will be out for at least 14 days.

Although the document talked about how the quarantine will go in the league, they haven’t been clear about the number of positive cases it would take to have a suspension of play.

Takeaway

The restart of the 2019-2020 season will be difficult for those involved, but the players will continue playing at their best to give the people a good season despite the coronavirus pandemic. As long as everything goes smoothly, the precedent schedule of the games will finish on time. With all that said, precautions are still mandatory for everyone involved to avoid a suspension of play.