The NBA season, which ended in March after Rudy Gobert’s positive coronavirus test, will resume on July 30 in Orlando.
The French pivot will be on display in the first game, Utah having to face New Orleans before a Lakers-Clippers shock. For the symbol, the NBA allowed Gobert and the Jazz to kick off a recovery like no other, with matches behind closed doors and under close surveillance in the Disney World bubble.
“Gobzilla” will be up against another “racket monster”, Zion Williamson, who will have the difficult mission of hooking up the play-offs with the Pelicans in a Western Conference where the Lakers and the Clippers score first and second places.
The two Los Angeles rivals will face off for the fourth time this season on July 30, a possible preview of a conference finale that many are expecting. For now, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are leading 2-1 against LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
The next day, July 31, six of the last 88 regular season games will be played from 2:30 p.m. local time. Including a duel between the Milwaukee Bucks, who have the best record in the League, and the Boston Celtics, 3rd in the East. The Rockets of Thabo Sefolosha will enter the scene that day against Dallas, when the season of Clint Capela and the Hawks is already over.
The calendar provides for up to seven matches per day, with kicks off between 12 noon (6 p.m. in Switzerland) and 9 p.m. local on three different fields. 22 teams are concerned by this end of the championship. In addition to the top eight in each conference, six clubs are within six games of 8th place in each conference (New Orleans, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, San Antonio to the west, Washington to the east) .
Each team will play eight regular season games. After which, the play-off table will be almost known, since the first seven of each Conference will be directly qualified. The 8th and last sesame will, in the East as in the West, be the object of a possible barrage.
Two scenarios will be possible. If the 9th is more than 4 wins behind the 8th, the latter is directly qualified for the play-off. If the 9th is 4 wins or less behind the 8th, the two compete in the play-off. The 8th must win once to qualify, the 9th must win twice. The play-offs will then take place in a classic way at the best of the seven games, for a final crowning on October 13 at the latest.
