On March 11, 2020, all hopes for NBA Playoffs were lost due to the surging Coronavirus pandemic. Over 4 months later, hope for the Playoff was regained as the teams began to scrimmage in the bubble. The bubble was a huge hit with fans who have been longing for sports. When asked about how he felt about the bubble Kemba Walker said, “I’m actually looking forward to it because I’m ready to play basketball.” The bubble had exhibition games that determined the playoff teams. It was a great opportunity for teams to play meaningful basketball before the playoffs began. On August 17th, teams were ready and the playoffs officially began.

Game 1 of the playoffs pitted the Denver Nuggets against the Utah, Jazz. This game was a thriller that ended in overtime. The Nuggets won 135-125. That was only one of the amazing games played in the 1st round. In the 8 series of games played 3 of them ended as 4-0 sweeps. Those 3 series were the Boston Celtics sweeping the Philadelphia 76ers, the Toronto Raptors sweeping the Brooklyn Nets, and the Miami Heat sweeping the Indiana Pacers. On the same day, those teams secured their spots in the second round. Luke Doncic hit an amazing buzzer-beater shot on an injured ankle to tie the series with the Los Angeles Clippers. The next 2 teams to secure their spot in the second round were the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers. The next day the Los Angeles Clippers finished off the Dallas Mavericks to secure their spot. The last 2 series left to finish went to a game 7. Those games were the Denver Nuggets vs the Utah Jazz and the Houston Rockets vs the Oklahoma City Thunder. Those series ended with the Nuggets and the Rockets both beating their opponents and securing a round 2 spot.

With the 1st round over, half of the teams were eliminated. The first series in round 2 to finish was an upset with the 5th seeded Miami Heat beating the 1st seeded Milwaukee Bucks in 5 games. The next series to finish was the Boston Celtic beating the defending champs Toronto Raptors. The 3rd to cement their spots in the Conference Championships was the Los Angeles Lakers. The last series to finish was a thriller. It started off with the Clippers dominating the Nuggets by creating a 3-1 series lead.   This was the last win the Clippers would get as the Nuggets won their next 3 games to win the series in 7 games.

With the 3rd round starting, 4 more teams were eliminated. Thus, started the conference championship games. The Miami Heat started off the series hot by winning 2 straight games to put Boston in a 2-0 deficit. But sensing they needed to win the next game to put themselves in a better position the Celtics played great in the first half and held off a Heat comeback to win the game. The Heat and Celtics would split wins, but the series finally ended with a Game 6 victory by the Heat. The Lakers vs Nuggets series started off the exact same with the Lakers taking a 2-1 advantage after 3 games. But unlike the Celtics, the Nuggets didn’t win another game with the Lakers winning the next 2 and winning the series in 5 games.

This put the Heat vs the Lakers in a final 7 game series for the championship. When asked about facing his former player, Lebron James, Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said, “That’s a great storyline but can you let us enjoy this for a little bit right now. This is hard to do, it’s hard to make it to this point. I want our guys to acknowledge that; I want our guys to enjoy it for at least 1 night.” The first game of the series will be on Wednesday, September 30 at 9:00 PM.