An aura of collective cheer permeated the homes of NBA fans around the world on Wednesday, while actual basketball – an NBA team playing against another NBA team – took place for the first time since March. Surely these are exhibition games and do not count for the ranking, but take on a completely new level of importance and energy due to the four-month break.
The temptation to overreact the first set of games is almost impossible to suppress, but many dropped on Wednesday – ranging from genuinely exciting to embarrassing comedian – while we had our first taste of how NBA basketball will look like within the Disney bubble. Below are the scores from the first reboot screens, along with some key takeaway points.
NBA scrimmage scores for Wednesday July 22nd
Bol Bol is a real enchantment
We had heard rumors about Bol Bol, the mysterious seductive Nugget novice who had not yet played an NBA game, looking good in practice, and we saw his talents in full bloom Wednesday on his Denver debut. The 20-year-old 7-foot-2 wasted no time working on the NBA Twitter in a frenzy with his blocked shots, 3-pointers and ball management. He finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks in a win over the magicians, producing countless highlights along the way.
Bol also apparently drew the league’s attention after undergoing a random drug test after the game.
Bol’s performances have been exciting on several levels. First of all, it was just fun to watch, especially after the long break from the NBA’s action. Second, Bol has never played much since high school, going on for eight G League games this season after playing only nine games as a freshman at Oregon. Third, there is a real possibility that Bol could see the minutes during the seeding games given the current lack of Nugget bodies.
Looking great in an exhibition game against the worst team in the bubble is obviously not a guarantee for future success, but Bol, who has a ridiculous wingspan of 7 feet and 9, has shown a fascinating set of skills that shows the Nugget’s second round bet could end up paying off in a big way.
A healthy and rested PG-13
As the Robin Clippers for Kawhi Leonard’s Batman, Paul George has not always had the appearance of himself this season after an off-season intervention on both shoulders. It certainly looks like George got healthier during the break, as he gained 18 points in 19 minutes in Wednesday’s win over Magic.
George has been in and out of alignment throughout the season due to various injuries and load management, and his average score has dropped significantly since last year, but when he and Leonard are on the field together the Clippers have been almost unbeatable (plus-11.6 net rating in 760 minutes). They will need George to be in great shape if they compete for the title during the reboot.
Denver literally takes “the mile”
You may have been confused when you saw five Nuggets standing 6-7 or taller, three of them 6-11 or taller, for the opening tip against the Mages. You weren’t alone. Due to the availability of only eight players, Mike Malone threw 7-foot Nikola Jokic to the guard, along with four other frontcourt players: Paul Millsap, Jerami Grant, Mason Plumlee and Bol Bol.
The alignment seemed to come out of Gulliver’s Travels but in the end it was quite effective due to the different skills of the players involved. In the end, a real guard, Troy Daniels, came into the game and lit the Wizards for 22 points, but it was fun to see the giant formation doing its part for a while.
The missing players for Denver have so far been very confused across the “summer camp”, but some players were seated on the sidelines who had not yet been allowed to play. The Nuggets announcers joked that Jamal Murray, who is in Orlando and in good health, did not play because he was fatigued from a recent golf trip. At least we think they were joking.
Unknown silence
This was our first look at fanless NBA games, and it was strange as expected. There was a squeak of sneakers, bouncing balls and players talking, while the voice of the AP presenter was much more audible than usual.
After the Clippers’ victory, coach Doc Rivers said that a good thing is that the lack of crowd noise allowed players to hear their teammates cheer on them, which normally doesn’t happen. Lou Williams said that once the game started, he didn’t even notice that there were no fans. It will be interesting to see how the lack of fans affects the players in the bubble, especially when the time of the playoffs arrives.
Hot mic
What would a COVID-related event be without some technical difficulties? The Nuggets have ambitiously created a multi-person broadcast team, each with their own studio or remote home. For the most part, it worked, but it inevitably turned into a Zoom call office nightmare in the first half. For a few minutes (even during an interruption of the game), the broadcast sounded like this:
- “Can you hear me?”
- “I’ve heard you all the time.”
- “I will reactivate the sound of my computer and see if it works better.”
- “I can put the headphones back on.”
In the end, they understood things and all the credit goes to Chris Marlowe, Scott Hastings, Dan Issel and the entire production team for managing it in a fairly professional way. But this only demonstrates the difficulties associated with broadcasting games in this strange NBA situation.
The Clippers presenter came to play
It wasn’t just the players who had four free months. Clippers station Noah Eagle clearly used his downtime to study the team as he came out the doors dropping gems like “Lou Williams leads all Clippers in friction points with 66” and an incredibly detailed and well-researched story about rapper Sheck Wes’ sculptor about childhood friend and Orlando Mo Bamba’s magic center. Eagle raised the bar in his first game since the break.
