There was so much to be excited about – as long as you kept your gaze narrow enough.
Christmas is always an exciting time on the NBA calendar, a moment in the schedule that the league has made its own.
But the anticipation might even have been heightened this time around. Even if you don’t completely buy the magical, unifying power of sports, you’d be hard-pressed to look out your window, see the sun setting before 5 p.m., in a world that seems to have turned itself into an uncertainty factory or worse and not appreciate the fact that, hey, at least there’s a game on.
And the Toronto Raptors, temporarily representing the lovely city of Tampa? They were hosting the New Orleans Pelicans and their potential second-year superstar, Zion Williamson. The lightning-quick, 280-pounder out of Duke missed the Raptors last season due to injury, and he’s the kind of talent even those who have spent their life in the game get excited to see.
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“Lots of things go into making the game exciting,” said Raptors head coach Nick Nurse. “But this is one of ’em that’s at the top of the list is when you gotta try to game plan and prepare and figure out what you can do with these guys.
“It’s the first time with [Williamson], so we do a lot of studying and looking and throwing ideas up there and taking some down and putting other ones up and trying to figure out what we think may work. Then you go to B and C and D and E, usually, with guys like this. It’s really fun and an awesome part of what I do for a living, for me.”
The Raptors didn’t get overwhelmed by Williamson and largely avoided letting the barrel-chested high-flyer add to his already considerable highlight reel, but the rest of their game plan didn’t quite come to fruition as the Pelicans dropped the Raptors 113-99 as Toronto started off at 0-1 at Amalie Arena, dropping their first “home” opener in eight years.
The Raptors led 57-50 at the half but lost control of the game in the third quarter when they missed all ten triples they took. The streak eventually reached 12 early in the fourth quarter and the Raptors were trailing by 10 at that point. Meanwhile the Pelicans were getting great production throughout their lineup. Williamson finished with just 15 points on just nine shot attempts while being bothered into six turnovers. But he got plenty of support from another emerging young player in Brandon Ingram (24 points and 11) while 36-year-old JJ Redick came off the bench with 23 points in 28 minutes.
The Raptors got a 20-point outing from Pascal Siakam while Lowry put up 18 points and 10 assists, but Toronto shot just 14-of-46 from deep, turned it over 20 times and only got the free-throw line 12 times – not a winning formula.
But even as the ball was going up on the Raptors’ season, the fragility of the entire enterprise was being made starkly clear. The game between the Houston Rockets and the Oklahoma City Thunder – the season opener for both teams — was cancelled as the Rockets were dealing with multiple violations of the protocols put in place to try to ensure that the season will unfold in somewhat regular fashion during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Good luck with that, it seems fair to say.
The Rockets had two issues to deal with. James Harden, their fool of a franchise player he had just finished spending six days in quarantine after being late for the start of training camp so he could party in Atlanta and Las Vegas only to be caught on video out at another club, once more without a mask. The NBA opened an investigation to determine the timing of his night out and ended up hitting him with a $50,000 fine. At the same time, three other players turned in tests that were either positive or inconclusive after gathering at a private residence to get their haircut. Four more players sat out after contact tracing, and in short order, the Rockets didn’t have the minimum eight players needed to start a game.
These issues, it seems, will be present, not far from the surface, more often than not. The Raptors had three positive COVID-19 tests in their organization after one day of training camp on the first day of their regular season. Norm Powell was initially questionable under “health and safety protocols.” He was finally ruled available in the afternoon.
The hold-up?
“There was some inconclusive tests with, let’s say his circle of people,” said Nurse. “I think that’s exactly what happened.”
And could conceivably – maybe even certainly – keep happening. As of Tuesday, the seven-day rolling average across the U.S. was 215,974, an all-time high, according to the New York Times database. On March 11, when the NBA shut down the 2019-20 season, the seven-day average was 157 new cases a day; when the season restarted on Aug. 1 from the bubble at Walt Disney World Resort, the number was 62,594.
Now the NBA has 30 teams with traveling parties of 45 per team, jetting around the country, hoping that they can play a 72-game season in roughly 150 days.
It seems impossible that all those virus-laden bullets can be dodged, especially when no one seems to know where they’re coming from.
But optimism persists. “I’d be much more concerned if we were going through this if there was a number of players going to the hospital, a number of staff going to the hospital, and I just don’t see that as the case with all these colleges and universities and all the athletes that test. I don’t hear hardly any of them, if any, going to the hospital,” said Nurse. “And I guess we’re trying to be as safe as we can and do protocols and I think that’s the right move going forward and if something happens where there’s some positive cases as a college football game or a basketball game, they postpone it and they try to work around it as best as they can and I’m onboard with that, 100 per cent.”
Even when the optimism is tempered there’s a determination to make some version of normal a reality.
“I’ve been asked many times why are you starting your season now, given the current state of the pandemic. It’s a fair question,” said NBA commissioner Adam Silver during his season-opening press conference on Monday. “The short answer is that we’re comfortable with the health and safety protocols that we’ve designed in consultation with the Players Association and our medical experts, plus we would not be opening the season if we didn’t believe it was safe and responsible to do so.
“There are other factors, as well. Tens of thousands of people rely on our league and its related businesses for their livelihoods. We also feel a responsibility to our fans. People continue to look at sports as a break from the challenges of the pandemic and as a small reminder of what life was like before COVID-19 — well, to the extent that games without fans approximate what is normalcy. It still is a piece of life I think we’re able to get back for the time being. On top of that, sports provide common rooting interests that bring people together in unique and special ways.
“Like so many other organizations, we’ll no doubt face our share of issues as we continue to operate through the pandemic. But we’re looking forward to getting back to work.”
The result may not have been what Raptors fans were hoping for, but as long as your gaze didn’t broaden from the game watching the Raptors and the Pelicans go at it was a legitimate source of joy and good feeling.
There were plenty of positives. Siakam – last seen as a shell of himself in the bubble – looked mostly refreshed and rejuvenated after revamping his off-season training and it showed as he shot the ball well from deep, was a factor slashing to the rim and demonstrated a more refined playmaking savvy.
Newcomer Aron Baynes looked as advertised as he set more than his share of red-light screens – he makes defenders stop – knocked in a couple of open threes and was a willing combatant with fellow mountain man, Hornets centre Steven Adams.
Kyle Lowry continued his campaign to prove that exhibition games are for the birds and Chris Boucher’s energy and activity made the $6.5-million contract he was given for this season look like decent value.
The positives didn’t completely translate to the scoreboard or the win column.
The Raptors get a chance to improve to 1-1 on the season on Boxing Day against the San Antonio Spurs.
It shouldn’t be taken for granted. Even the ball going up represents a small victory, because it’s clear that this season comes with no guarantees.
