Around the NBA: 2020 Playoffs are underway!

After a long wait, the 2020 NBA Playoffs are officially in full swing with the first round going live from the “bubble” in Orlando

With the Nuggets and Jazz already in action on ESPN, we have an official beginning to the 2020 NBA Playoffs. The first round will consist of seven-game series as usual; no more seeding, no more play-ins… this is the real deal.

After an abrupt halt in March thanks to covid, the NBA’s lengthy hiatus ended thanks to the success of lofty plans to form the Orlando “bubble” for all teams in playoff contention. After over a month of testing more than 300 players, there have been no positive coronavirus cases.

Scrimmages, seeding games, and the single play-in game were all successful. The only hiccup was the Phoenix Suns going 8-0 in the bubble, but not being able to clinch a spot due to the Trailblazers playing (and winning) one more game than them before the hiatus. Despite being red hot, it would have helped if the Suns weren’t abysmal at home when they had a chance months ago.

The below tweet by the NBA highlights the seeding games’ “first team” players. Lillard was the MVP. Monty Williams of the Suns was named Coach of the Seeding Games.

All this week, first-round Playoff games will be televised throughout most of the day. Today sees a quadruple-header on ESPN. The bracket below shows the breakdown of first-round matchups as well as how things will be looking depending on who wins:

We just wanted to get these quick words in as we are excited to have a (fairly) normal NBA Playoff slate in a year that has often had more uncertainty than answers. The norm feels good.

The Basketball Movement will be following along with the 2020 NBA Playoffs closely, so keep checking here and on Twitter as we bring you the need-to-know info. Good luck to all of The Basketball Movement’s allies that are participating in these Playoffs. Let’s get it on!