"Hol' up, he doesn't play like that normally": Celtics' Jayson Tatum reveals why he thinks the NBA bubble affected some rivals' performances last year
Michael King Celtics star Jayson Tatum talked about how he thought the bubble affected the quality of performance for some players on rival teams.
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The NBA Bubble was a first-of-its-kind idea in league history. The unforeseen circumstances relating to the Covid-19 pandemic forced all leagues to shut down in March. But they couldn’t hold on without play forever, and some kind of compromise had to be made to finish 2019-20.
22 teams and their players came together at the DisneyWorld bubble in Orlando to try and finish out the season. Teams were made to isolate within the 100 square km of the DisneyWorld resort. Some players played better than they would ordinarily. But the likes of Paul George mentioned how disenchanted they were, away from their loved ones.
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Many believe the Heat couldn’t have replicated its fairytale Finals run in ordinary circumstances. They find it hard to believe, for instance, that the Celtics would lose 2 home games on the trot to them.
Jayson Tatum on players’ bubble performances
Talking to Tyler Herro on a podcast recently, Tatum speculated how some players played better than usual in the bubble:
“It was just like we were just out there playing. I ain’t gon’ say no names, but they were some people on the other teams…I’m like ‘Hold on, they don’t normally play like that. Like he acting different in the bubble. I don’t know cuz it was no fans there, but the environment there kinda like allowed you to play more freely.”
Herro nodded in agreement to this.
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The NBA has had its fair share of unusual circumstances, but the bubble is by far the biggest of them all. Almost everyone had misgivings about a potential serial spreader event, but that didn’t happen. The Lakers were by far the best team in the playoffs and won their 17th title led by one LeBron James.
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