The NBA updated scrimmage information for the OKC Thunder and Disney bubble participants.
With everyone celebrating Independence Day on this July 4th it’s likely the OKC Thunder players will be spending quality time with family. They’ll want to soak in as much quality time as possible as they head out next week on July 8th for Orlando.
Although Florida is hitting record-setting numbers for their positive COVID-19 tests the NBA hasn’t experienced an uptick since they started mandatory testing. That said, three different practice facilities have shut down due to multiple players or staff in the traveling parties testing positive including the Denver Nuggets, LA Clippers, and most recently the Miami Heat.
Meanwhile, the Toronto Raptors who moved down to Florida early (albeit in Naples) haven’t had issues despite being in the eye of the storm. This should bode well for the NBA who are no doubt monitoring the situation carefully to see if the bubble can work as they envision.
The initial tests taken on June 23rd delivered 16 positive test results and in the next six days between June 24th and June 29th, another nine players tested positive. None of the OKC Thunder players have tested positive.
As TI noted the goal of the association is to track down all NBA players, team staff, or members of the traveling party prior to next week. The protocol is quarantine following the discovery of a positive test coupled with tracking who that individual has been in closest contact with.
OKC Thunder scrimmages at Disney:
With the majority of items such as health protocols, day to day itinerary, and the eight seeded games scheduled there isn’t much the league has left to provide updates on.
The one item which remained undetermined was who each team will play in their three scrimmages.
NBA teams in Orlando will scrimmage against a team in opposite conference or an unlikely first-round playoff opponent in same conference, league tells teams in a memo.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 4, 2020
Friday, Adrian Wojnarowski provided some additional updates on the scrimmages (see above tweet). To wit, each team will scrimmage against teams in the opposite conference or an unlikely first-round opponent.
Earlier, the league had implied the clubs would only play teams in their hotel but based on the schedule just released that’s not accurate.
Shams Charania posted the full scrimmage schedule just prior to noon.
The OKC Thunder will open on Friday, July 24th at 5:00 pm versus the Boston Celtics in the Visa arena.
Their second game will be against the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday, July 26th at noon in the HP arena.
The final scrimmage will be against the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday, July 28th at 6:00 p.m. in the Visa arena.
The NBA’s scrimmage game schedule — with Clippers, Nuggets, Heat and Pelicans all opening play on July 22: pic.twitter.com/znph78RAWW
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 4, 2020
These matches will offer a great test for the Thunder and provide different strengths that are ideal for the team’s preparation.
Each squad offers something the Thunder can isolate to improve upon. The Celtics are among the best defenders and have a bevy of wings. Although the Thunder pulled off the victory in their last game before the suspension on March 8th (105-104) this Boston club is no joke. The clubs split the season series with Boston winning in OKC also by a single point 112-111 on February 9th.
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The 76ers are big and strong with a unique talent (Joel Embiid). The teams split their two games this season. Philly had no answer for Danilo Gallinari while Embiid was productive but not effective defensively in the Thunder overtime win (127-119) on November 15th. The 76ers won the game in Philly on January 6th by a score of 120-113. As big as the 76ers are the Thunder frontcourt was superior in both matches.
As for the Blazers, it will be interesting to witness the dynamic of adding Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins back into the mix. They’ll be firing on all cylinders and represent the biggest offensive test of the three squads. This will be the fifth time these teams meet this season where they split the four games. Portland won the first two matches while the Thunder won the last two games.
It’s presumed the local broadcast crews will cover the games remotely but no confirmation on that fact yet.
The other point of interest is teams were only supposed to play clubs in their own hotel to limit exposure. It will be intriguing to see what the feedback is regarding teams playing opponents outside their own hotels.