Yesterday, there were three NBA games on tap as the playoffs have been running like a well-oiled machine. One of the games was between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Orlando Magic, who have been battling to determine which advances in the postseason. While the Magic were warming up on the court in preparation for the game, the Bucks were nowhere to be seen. Just minutes before the tip-off should have taken place, there were still no Bucks. Then, the referees disappeared, followed by the Magic. While there had not been any official announcement prior to the game, speculation that the Bucks would boycott the game began to surface, and was later confirmed. That boycott, designed to bring attention to racial and social injustice in the U.S., spilled over to the entire NBA and all three of the games were canceled. It has also gone further, with teams in other sports leagues joining forces with their fellow athletes in a sign of solidarity. This is most likely just the beginning, too.

It wasn’t coincidence that the Bucks made the first move. They hail from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which is only about 40 miles from the city of Kenosha, the location of the latest incident involving law enforcement officers and a black man. This past Sunday, Jacob Blake was shot seven times by police in his back as he was getting into his car. The 29-year-old didn’t appear to be brandishing any sort of weapon, and the handful of officers apparently weren’t enough to control a single man. They fired at him at close range, even though there were three children in the car, and he is apparently now paralyzed. 

The Bucks’ back office didn’t even know the boycott was coming, but stands behind its players, who said in a statement, “The past four months have shed a light on the ongoing racial injustices facing our African-American communities. Citizens around the country have used their voices and platforms to speak out against these wrongdoings.

“Over the last few days in our home state of Wisconsin, we’ve seen the horrendous video of Jacob Blake being shot in the back seven times by a police officer in Kenosha, and the additional shooting of protestors. Despite the overwhelming plea for change, there has been no action, so our focus today cannot be on basketball.

This past Sunday, August 23, basketball great Kobe Bryant would have turned 42. His life was cut short this past January when the helicopter in which he was traveling with his daughter and seven others crashed in Calabasas, California. He may be gone, but his legacy certainly isn’t going to disappear, and the LA Lakers, where he spent his 20-year NBA career, made sure to keep him alive as they played a game against the Portland Trail Blazers yesterday. By the time the contest was over, it was apparent that the Lakers went above and beyond in order to memorialize their fallen teammate. 

 This was Game 4 of the Round 1 series between the two teams, and the Lakers have only lost one of the games so far – they certainly weren’t going to allow another defeat as they took the court and paid homage to the five-time NBA champion. From the first tip-off, the Lakers grabbed control of the game and never let go. They got off to a 15-0 start and, at one point in the first quarter, were probably a little stunned when they looked at the scoreboard and saw the tally. They were up 24-8, which happened to be the two numbers worn by Bryant during his long career with the team. 

LeBron James was a driving force for the team’s success, sinking 30 points and getting ten assists in the 28 minutes he was in the action. One of his baskets was a massive fader from well beyond the paint that sailed through the air and through the net. It’s impossible to know what he was thinking at that exact moment, but it’s likely he dedicated the shot to Bryant and his legacy. 

Anthony Davis and Kyle Kuzma were ready to make statements of their own, as well, adding 18 points as the Lakers would ultimately walk away with a 135-115 trampling of the Trail Blazers on what had officially been dubbed Kobe Bryant Day. The team showed no mercy from start to finish, while Portland could only scramble and try, unsuccessfully, to catch up. It was an exercise in futility from the start. Lakers head coach Frank Vogel had said before the game, “We all know that [Bryant] would want us to keep our foot on the gas even though we won two in a row. That’s what we’re going to try to approach this game as.” And, that’s exactly what they did. 

This past Sunday, August 23, basketball great Kobe Bryant would have turned 42. His life was cut short this past January when the helicopter in which he was traveling with his daughter and seven others crashed in Calabasas, California. He may be gone, but his legacy certainly isn’t going to disappear, and the LA Lakers, where he spent his 20-year NBA career, made sure to keep him alive as they played a game against the Portland Trail Blazers yesterday. By the time the contest was over, it was apparent that the Lakers went above and beyond in order to memorialize their fallen teammate. 

 This was Game 4 of the Round 1 series between the two teams, and the Lakers have only lost one of the games so far – they certainly weren’t going to allow another defeat as they took the court and paid homage to the five-time NBA champion. From the first tip-off, the Lakers grabbed control of the game and never let go. They got off to a 15-0 start and, at one point in the first quarter, were probably a little stunned when they looked at the scoreboard and saw the tally. They were up 24-8, which happened to be the two numbers worn by Bryant during his long career with the team. 

LeBron James was a driving force for the team’s success, sinking 30 points and getting ten assists in the 28 minutes he was in the action. One of his baskets was a massive fader from well beyond the paint that sailed through the air and through the net. It’s impossible to know what he was thinking at that exact moment, but it’s likely he dedicated the shot to Bryant and his legacy. 

Anthony Davis and Kyle Kuzma were ready to make statements of their own, as well, adding 18 points as the Lakers would ultimately walk away with a 135-115 trampling of the Trail Blazers on what had officially been dubbed Kobe Bryant Day. The team showed no mercy from start to finish, while Portland could only scramble and try, unsuccessfully, to catch up. It was an exercise in futility from the start. Lakers head coach Frank Vogel had said before the game, “We all know that [Bryant] would want us to keep our foot on the gas even though we won two in a row. That’s what we’re going to try to approach this game as.” And, that’s exactly what they did. 

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

There had been four NBA playoff games per day from the Orlando bubble but that will change Tuesday because two Eastern Conference first-round series that would have been played that day, Boston Celtics vs. Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors vs. Brooklyn Nets, both ended in four-game sweeps by the better-seeded team (Celtics and Raptors) on Sunday.

Thus, both matchups Tuesday are from the Western Conference.

At 6:30 p.m. ET, the third-seeded Denver Nuggets look to avoid elimination in Game 5 against the sixth-seeded Utah Jazz. Utah is a 3-point favorite to finish things off and advance to the conference semifinals. The Jazz have covered just four of their past 22 games as favorites.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

The 2020 NBA playoffs were always going to be unusual and memorable because they are being played in front of no fans in the Orlando bubble and home-court advantage doesn’t exist. It gives off the feeling that anything could happen, and wow did it on Tuesday.

The Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers finished with the top seeds in their respective conferences and had been the two favorites to win the NBA title essentially all season. They no longer are after both were stunned by No. 8 seeds in Game 1 of their quarterfinal series Tuesday, pushing the Los Angeles Clippers temporarily into the role of title favorites.

Milwaukee suffered one of the biggest stunners in postseason history as it was a 14-point favorite over the No. 8 Orlando Magic, who not just won Tuesday but largely dominated in a 122-110 final. Magic center Nikola Vucevic led six Orlando players in double-figure points with 35, adding 14 rebounds. He was the first Magic player to record a 35/10 game in a playoff contest since Dwight Howard did it in 2011.

This has been the year of the NBA. The basketball league has made a couple of firsts that will forever become a part of any playbook, and the hits keep on coming. The NBA Bubble in Orlando, Florida has proven to be a highly successful alternative if another global pandemic comes along, although it hopefully won’t be necessary, and the league was behind a major study on a potential coronavirus test that could now have worldwide implications. Led by scientists at Yale University, a saliva-based COVID-19 test involving the NBA has just received approval by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA).

The test, SalivaDirect, was administered to players and staffers on various NBA teams after being approved by the league and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), with both the NBA and the NBPA also assisting with funding. Currently, a nasal swab has been the most accepted form of COVID-19 test, but it’s costly and results can take days to be received. SalivaDirect is said to be just as accurate, doesn’t require any additional components and can be read considerably sooner.

Explains Chantal Vogels, a Yale postdoctoral fellow, who led the laboratory development and validation along with adjunct assistant clinical professor Doug Brackney, “This is a huge step forward to make testing more accessible. This started off as an idea in our lab soon after we found saliva to be a promising sample type of the detection of SARS-CoV-2, and now it has the potential to be used on a large scale to help protect public health. We are delighted to make this contribution to the fight against coronavirus.”

Because the test doesn’t depend on any proprietary technology, it becomes substantially easier to use. In addition, Yale, unlike the pharmaceutical companies, doesn’t plan on using SalivaDirect as a money-maker. Instead, it will make the protocols available to diagnostic laboratories so that these can help facilitate widespread testing. These labs, however, could (and definitely will) charge for the tests, with estimated costs coming in at around $10 each.

The NBA Bubble at Disney World in Orland, Florida has been everything basketball fans could have hoped for. There have been some exciting underdog wins, a few instances of players butting heads – literally – and athletes escaping to score some hot wings. As the regular season draws to a close, the playoff bracket is now set, and fans can look forward to a lot of the same hot action when the postseason begins next Monday. 

Before the postseason run to the championship can get going, there will first be a play-in tournament held for the Western Conference, which will see the Portland Trail Blazers (currently in eighth place) taking on the Memphis Grizzlies (ninth place). Because they’re only four games apart, this will be used to determine the eighth seed for the playoffs, which the Blazers can take if they win the first game on the play-in tournament. If, on the other hand, the Grizzlies take Game 1, they can end up in eighth if they then take the second game. This year, seeding isn’t as important as it has been in other seasons. There is no true “home court” advantage since everyone’s in the bubble.

Once that series is decided, the winner will take on the LA Lakers in the first round of the playoffs. The Oklahoma City Thunder are going up against the Houston Rockets, the LA Clippers take on the Dallas Mavericks and the Denver Nuggets will battle the Utah Jazz, finishing out the conference semifinalists.

In the East, the layout for the first round of the playoff bracket is already set and no play-in game is needed. The Milwaukee Bucks, who lead the conference, will go up against the Orlando Magic, the Miami Heat meet the Indiana Pacers, the Toronto Raptors will face the Brooklyn Nets and the Boston Celtics will take on the Philadelphia 76ers. 

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

Thursday marks the penultimate day of the very unusual 2019-20 NBA regular season with seven games on the schedule from the Orlando bubble. Frankly, three of the games are completely meaningless and some starters are going to sit out ahead of the playoffs, which will begin on August 17.

Even in the four games that matter, they only do for one of the teams so it’s hard to know how much the team that has nothing to play for will care in terms of playing key guys. What’s at stake Thursday is which teams will earn spots in the Saturday play-in game for the Western Conference’s final seed. The No. 9 seed will play the No. 8 in that; if the eighth seed wins, it earns the final spot. If the ninth seed wins, it plays the eight again the next day in a winner-take-all for the final spot.

Led by the scorching-hot Damian Lillard, the Portland Trail Blazers control their destiny to get into the play-in game as they currently hold the eighth seed. The Blazers face the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday, and the Nets have squat to play for as they are locked into the seventh seed in the East.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

The key to betting these NBA restart games is all about motivation, and that was never more clear than Tuesday. Both the Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks had little to play for in their game with both essentially locked into their playoff positioning in the Eastern Conference.

The Bucks, the team with the NBA’s best record, were 19-point favorites over a Nets team without its top eight players for one reason or another. Brooklyn pulled a 119-116 stunner, the biggest point spread upset in the NBA since Dallas was +19.5 in Seattle and upset the Sonics on April 6, 1993.

So, while Los Angeles Lakers vs. Houston Rockets on Thursday night (9 p.m. ET) looks like a marquee matchup, the Lakers have absolutely no reason to care because they have wrapped up the top seed in the Western Conference.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

In the 2018 NBA Draft, the Phoenix Suns took Arizona big man Deandre Ayton at No. 1 overall, which left the Sacramento Kings on the clock at No. 2. They could have taken European teenage superstar Luka Doncic, called by some scouts the best Euro prospect ever, but the Kings opted to take Duke forward Marvin Bagley III.

That would prove to be a huge mistake. Doncic went No. 3 to the Atlanta Hawks and was immediately traded to the Dallas Mavericks (who picked Trae Young fifth and sent Young and a 2019 first-round pick to Atlanta). Doncic already is one of the best players in the league, while Bagley hasn’t been able to stay on the court due to injury.

The Kings are without Bagley for the entire NBA restart due to a right foot sprain as Sacramento chases its first playoff berth since 2006. The Kings face Doncic and the Mavericks at 2:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday from the ESPN World Wide of Sports Complex in the Orlando “bubble”. The Mavs, who have been historically good on offense this season, are 5.5-point favorites.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

The NBA’s eight-game regular-season restart features 22 teams all playing at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando during a coronavirus pandemic in the United States. Florida is in the midst of arguably the worst virus surge in the U.S.A, but so far the NBA has gotten good news in terms of positive tests among its players because in theory they are protected in their campus-like “bubble.”

The restart tips off Thursday night with two games, and expect incredibly high betting action and television ratings as NBA fans have gone four months without basketball.

The first game at 6:30 p.m. ET features the Utah Jazz at New Orleans Pelicans, who are 2.5-point favorites. While the word “at” doesn’t really work at a neutral site, it does somewhat matter because the league is going to great effort to make the home team feel like it is at home with some virtual on-site additions for each game (signage, etc.).