Are we witnessing the NBA Playoffs or NBA Rico Hines scrimmages?

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

There's been a lot of discussion around the legitimacy of this bubble setting and whether or not if it's the real deal.

The conventional basketball-truths:

1. Depth of perception - due to the lack of background visual noise, there's a greater focus of light on the court, rim and net, which gives players a more distinct demarcation when lining up their shots. We've heard players already speak on this:
   

   “The depth perception on the basket is a lot better, just because you can’t see through the backboard, shooting-wise, since it’s blacked out,” [Tim] Hardaway Jr. said.
   
   “I feel like it’s a hooper’s gym,” Devin Booker said. “It’s easier to shoot in here with [better] depth perception. I love the setup that they have for us. There’s not much more that comes with it beyond the game of basketball.”

2. Travel - the factor of fatigue is less in play.
3. Crowd - the factor of fan pressure and distraction isn't in play; this is particularly relevant during closing possessions and free-throws.
4. Homecourt advantage - the factor of altitude, familiarity with court makeup, and bounce-factor of rims is all at a net of zero.
5. More perceptual space/less mental intrusion - since there are no fans directly courtside or player benches, players have more comfortability when navigating and shooting near the sidelines.

It's important to acknowledge that these factors exist, and aid in player performance, but at the same time, they all count just the same, even if the conditions/environment aren't identical to seasons of the past.

 

[DoubleClutch]

To me it don’t count.
But its just as entertaining.

 

[Monsanto]

Sounds like an even playing field to me.

Migraine era D-Wade would love it because he wouldn't have extra factors to trigger him.

Playoffs are playoffs.

 

[JMurder]

Just means you're seeing these players play at their best. As long as they all play hard, why do I care that the uncontrolled challenges are missing? Just means we get to see how good everyone is without additional pressure outside of it being the playoffs

 

[ALonelyDad]

Everyone is playing on the same field so the competition is still there, with that being said I am taking the high scoring/shooting #s with a grain of salt

 

[NOSaintsFan02]

Only a small contingent of people aren't "observing these games as the playoffs"

The rest of the world and history is and will for all of time.

 

[Alexander The Great]

means you shouldn't be comparing what they doing to past performances

 

[Paper Boi]

it's different, but calling them scrimmages is also dumb as fukk

you could literally tell the difference in effort from the ACTUAL scrimmages, to the regular season bubble games, to the games today.

it's not normal, no shyt. nothing is normal. that ain't nobody in the NBA fault, but it's definitely not scrimmage level either. that's a bullshyt claim.

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

Just means you're seeing these players play at their best. As long as they all play hard, why do I care that the uncontrolled challenges are missing? Just means we get to see how good everyone is without additional pressure outside of it being the playoffs

I guess the counter-argument is: are we really witnessing how good everyone is without those additional pressures, when those pressures are the very fabric of NBA play and are historically relevant? After all, those pressures affect player performance and ultimately the result.

 

[CarltonJunior]

I hated the idea on paper at first and was really against it, but I grew to embrace the bubble.

Sounds like an even playing field to me.

Migraine era D-Wade would love it because he wouldn't have extra factors to trigger him.

Playoffs are playoffs.

Don't bring up T Wade in here

I will say there were some times early in the Denver and Toronto games where it felt like there was no playoff intensity, but both of those games picked it up in a big way.

 

[tremonthustler1]

the bubble wasn't designed to recreate playoff atmospheres. If you can't acknowledge it as legitimate, so be it, but get used to it because as we learned today, ain't no all star weekend next year. It's gonna be something similar to this for a while.

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

it's different, but calling them scrimmages is also dumb as fukk

you could literally tell the difference in effort from the ACTUAL scrimmages, to the regular season bubble games, to the games today.

it's not normal, no shyt. nothing is normal. that ain't nobody in the NBA fault, but it's definitely not scrimmage level either. that's a bullshyt claim.

It ain't that serious, my bro.

I simply used Rico Hines scrimmages as a term to illustrate both ends of the spectrum.

 

[CantStop]

Somehow, this is a Steph prop/Dame hate thread in disguise.

 

[I AM WARHOL]

Fun basketball to watch but I can't act like this is the same thing. The atmosphere is so crucial to what the NBA playoffs are.

 

[Brozay]

the title will be deserved, the inflated stats we’re seeing is something that is more difficult to contextualize. but maybe it’s just the norm moving forward in this inflated stats era. getting to the point like the NFL where you can’t measure current QBs to past ones purely by statistics. that doesn’t mean accolades are diminished though to me, just the numbers