In some ways, the 2020 NBA Bubble in Orlando was the purest basketball we’ll ever get. While it was missing the primal reaction of fans in the stands, the on-court experience was some of the best. From TJ Warren averaging 30-odd points per game to the series between the Utah Jazz and the Denver Nuggets that featured more 50-point games than any other series in NBA history, it was, for lack of a better term, peak. The atmosphere made former Rocket Austin Rivers a little too confident.
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The Bubble enthusiasm extended deep through the playoffs as LeBron James and Anthony Davis led the Los Angeles Lakers to a title, going through the Portland Trail Blazers, aforementioned Nuggets, and, vitally, the Houston Rockets, featuring Russell Westbrook and James Harden.
On a recent episode of the Ryen Russillo podcast, Austin Rivers, who was a part of that Rockets team, detailed how good the whole roster felt after they stole Game 1 of the series. However, as we all know, that would be the last game they’d win before the Lakers won four straight to send the whole crew home.
“We went to the locker room with the highest of highest confidence … I was so confident that we had them figured out,” remembered Rivers. “And we couldn’t even get close to winning another one. The first two were bad, but the last two were nasty.”
It was Russell Westbrook, in particular, who set the tone of belief. Ever-confident, Russ was ready to send the favorites home. It was that Game 1 win that gave us the infamous clip of Westbrook talking trash to a crowd of babies and players’ family members.
On the opposite side, the Lakers knew they could beat the Rockets’ small-ball approach. LeBron left the game by saying, “They play with a lot of speed both offensively and defensively. And you can watch it on film and you can see it on film; until you get out there and get a feel for it … That’s what we did tonight.”
As Rivers says, “That was the year everyone felt you could steal [the title] if you just wanted it the most. The Clippers lost because they just didn’t want to be there anymore. Lou Will was eating hot wings; Paul George had mental stuff. Half the people just didn’t want to live there anymore.”
For people who eat, breathe, and sleep basketball, the Bubble was perfect. It was one of the hardest titles to win because it required constant fortitude to keep going without rest, relaxation, or respite. But it gave us some of the coolest moments in modern NBA history.
