LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — In a normal NBA playoff series Mike D’Antoni would be taking his Houston Rockets on the road.
Finished with the first two games, it would be time to switch sites and head to Oklahoma City for the next two.
With the Rockets leading 2-0, he might tell them all they’ve done is win their home games, warn them not to get complacent knowing the Thunder would be dangerous in their own building.
Not this year.
Coaches can’t count on the usual mind tricks in the bubble, where the only thing that seems to change from day to day is what time the rain shower passes through. More than ever, it’s up to players to motivate themselves.
“So, every day is going to be the same — like it is here in the bubble,” D’Antoni said. “Every day is Wednesday, but we have to understand the urgency of today.”
It was actually Thursday. Not that there’s much difference in one day, or even one week.
To walk away with an NBA championship a team has to win 16 games over about two months and numerous factors can derail the quest. Teams have already been at Disney more than six weeks and this postseason, the biggest X-factor is the bubble.
There was a novelty when teams first arrived at Disney. Players were happy to be back together with teammates to finish a season that was suspended in March because of the coronavirus pandemic. They fished, golfed and did other activities, documenting their exploits on social media.
The fun part has worn off. Now, it feels like work.
“For me, one thing I’ll say is that we play a game or we have a practice and obviously we’re in the bubble,” Bucks star and league MVP candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo said. “We don’t get to go home. We don’t get to be away from basketball, even for a few hours.
“If things were normal, we’d be back home playing in our home court and after the game we’d go home. We’d go home and spend time with our family, watch a movie, eat your favorite foods, sleep in your own bed. You’re just comfortable. But now it just feels like we’re always at work. You cannot escape basketball.”
That seemed particularly difficult for Milwaukee, which scuffled through the eight seeding games and then dropped its opener against eighth-seeded Orlando. A team that enjoys its fun, players acting out wrestling moves in the moments before their games, the Bucks didn’t take to the bubble, with guard George Hill calling it “stressful.”
Teams began practicing at Disney on July 9. It’s been a month since they started playing scrimmage games.
Those games didn’t count. They do now, yet when the playoffs began Monday, there was no infusion of energy that made it look different from the previous week.
“They all feel the same,” Lakers All-Star Anthony Davis said. “Obviously we know it’s the playoffs but as far as the environment, the atmosphere, I don’t think anything really changed.”
Before Game 3, the teams will switch “home” and “road” locker rooms and benches, and arrive on the court to see the signage around them has switched to the lower-seeded team’s. That’s about it.
