NBA Bubble Predictions: 30-31 July 2020 [BTC Sportsbooks]

The NBA has done a fantastic job so far in restarting their season. They have sent all of their players down into Orlando, Florida in what they call the “bubble”.

The bubble¹ consists of about 23 different teams and each player that is on those teams will be getting tested every single day to reduce any COVID-19 related risks. Each time will be playing three startup scrimmage games to get their players back into the flow of playing basketball again.

After those three scrimmage games finish up, each of those teams will be playing eight regular-season games to determine how the seeding is going to look for each conference. For some teams, the eight regular-season games won’t matter due to them already locking into a seed for their given conference but for others, those games determine if they make or miss the postseason.

There will also be an 8-9 seed mini-tournament after those eight regular-season games if the 8 and 9 seed is either tied or within one game of each other to determine which team will make it in. Then after all of that, the postseason will continue how it always does with 7 game series. Again, all of this will be taking place in the bubble and will have no fans attending the game.

The court that they will be playing on will have a few fans on a team zoom call just to give the home team a small home-court advantage. Each player will be tested on a daily basis even though the postseason as well and the players are unable to leave the bubble unless they have an urgent family matter to attend to. However, if a player is to leave the bubble without reasonable cause, they will be sent to a 2-week quarantine period to prevent risks of spreading the coronavirus. But now that we have gone over how the NBA is resuming its season, let’s dive straight into a few key regular-season games.

Lakers vs. Clippers

PREDICTION: Lakers win

I am really excited to see how this game plays out as these two teams have been favored to meet up in the conference finals.

The Lakers have recently added guards Dion Waiters and J.R. Smith to help reduce the loss of Avery Bradley after he decided to sit out due to COVID concerns. Those two guards should help the Lakers offense immensely, although losing Bradley means they are losing their best on-ball defender.

However, the Lakers still have more than enough to compete with the Clippers due to the excellence of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Those two have shown all season long how dominant they can be and now they have an incredible group of role players to back them up. This team is scary all around and will be a force to be reckoned with in the postseason.

The Clippers, on the other hand, have been a little bit of a mess during the scrimmage games so far. Guard Lou Williams² recently was put in quarantine after he was caught lying about a family emergency just so he could sneak out to a club. The biggest issue for the Clippers all season long has been their chemistry and inability to stay on the court at the same time despite all of their talents. Lou Williams missing time will again hurt their chemistry come playoff time and will need to get some reps in as a whole team in order to compete with teams like the Lakers.

While on paper the Clippers may be better, the chemistry of the Lakers will put them over the edge in this matchup. As long as LeBron and Anthony Davis are healthy and playing in this game, I am taking the Lakers with -4 odds.

Dallas Mavericks vs. Houston Rockets

PREDICTION: Dallas Mavericks (-1)

The Dallas Mavericks will be looking to make a statement on their opening regular-season game against the Rockets. They have superstar player Luka Dončić and star Kristaps Porzingis to form a very deadly duo that will kill the Rockets with their size. Luka is an excellent passer and will be able to create space for Dallas’ role players which will cause a lot of problems defensively for the Rockets. Porzingis, on the other hand, will be able to dominate the glass on both ends as the Rockets have been going with a small ball lineup with forwarding P.J. Tucker at the starting center. For the Rockets, they will need a terrific game from both James Harden and Russell Westbrook in order to stay with the Mavericks. They are both great players, but each has its own individual problems that get made bigger when on the court at the same time. If they are able to limit their turnovers and play less iso basketball, then we could very well see the Rockets come away with the win in this one. However, they will need a huge game from Tucker as he will be the main defensive stopping point for the paint and the main guy on the glass. This game could very easily go either way but I’m going to bet on the Mavericks to pull this one through.