It has been exactly four full years since the iconic NBA ‘bubble’ took place in 2020. During peak Covid, the pandemic ultimately shut down the 2019-2020 season for a few months. When it was finally set to resume, there were a plethora of new restrictions.
Each team had to quarantine all in one place, located in Walt Disney World Resort of Orlando, Florida. Only the current playoff teams, or teams that still had a chance standings-wise, were invited to that Orlando bubble. The teams were held to serious restrictions both on and off the court, that included a commitment to not leaving the resort or essentially even their hotel rooms.
The Miami Heat reached the 2020 playoffs as the Eastern Conference’s fifth seed. In typical Heat fashion, they endured another true underdog playoff run to reach the NBA Finals. Reportedly, the bubble and behind-the-scenes footage of this special time in league history will be featured in an upcoming documentary made by ESPN and Disney.
Considering that Miami were the Eastern Conference champions during this 2020 season, the documentary will surely feature the Heat. From the surprising take downs of the rival Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics, to Jimmy Butler going band for band with LeBron James in the Finals, this has all the makings of being a must-watch for Heat fans.
Butler wound up becoming the first player ever to outscore, outrebound and out-assist James in a Finals game.
Through the first four games of the series, Butler was individually outperforming one of the NBA’s greatest players of all-time:
- Butler: 27.5 points, 10.0 assists, 55.2% FG
- James: 27.8 points, 8.5 assists, 54.1% FG
In what was his first season in South Beach, Butler immediately made a statement in his playoff run with the team as a true playoff riser and alpha. The Heat’s impressive bubble run was ultimately cut short, losing to the eventual champion Lakers in six games.
Unfortunately, the start of the team’s bad injury luck took place during that year, as both Goran Dragic and Bam Adebayo were sidelined in the Finals. Dragic was Miami’s leading scorer throughout the playoffs up until the Finals.
The intriguing part of this documentary could be that behind-the-scenes footage, where it shows the life of the players off the court during the pandemic time in Orlando. This could potentially include the beginning of Butler’s coffee hustle, which would later turn into his own brand; ‘Big Face Coffee’.
***
To check out our other content, click here.
Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Twitter/X here!
Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Instagram here!
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here!
Bam Adebayo leads Team USA to Olympic quarterfinals with 103-86 win over South Sudan
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/bam-adebayo-leads-team-usa-to-olympic-quarterfinals-with-103-86-win-over-south-sudan/ar-BB1qZ9Ig?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=96b8cb2df62a406b99e0da061784b925&ei=95
I think it’s time we all admit that Bam is a better player than Joel Embiid
Riley needs to build a young team around Bam. He must be able to get something of value for Butler and Herro. Houston has assets up the kazoo. OKC and a few other teams do too.
I don’t know if Riley will trade Butler. Otherwise, you basically just described what he’s already doing.
Building a young team around Bam. JJJ and Jovic both look really good. Ware might be good. The frontcourt can take them deep into the playoffs.
Now they just need the guards to step up. How good can Terry and Herro and Duncan and J-Rich be? Unless Jimmy turns back the clock, that’s the difference between 3rd place and 7th place next season.
I said it at the time, and I still believe it now. Watching the Heat make that run in the bubble was one of the greatest sports experiences of my life. At a time when we all had so much to worry about, the Heat made us happy every other day for a month. What a great run
Its easy to forget how terrible that time was. And Heat offered a great distraction.
I’ve always said that constructive criticism is very fair when warranted. Losing out on Tyus Jones at $3.3 million versus Thomas Bryant’s $4 million is poor management of assets. Jones could have clearly had a regular role as a solid backup pg. Bryant will have sparse opportunity with Bam, Ware, Love, and Jovic in the power rotation. They could’ve saved money and have a player who would actually see the floor.
Oh well, at least I remain pleased about Ware, Pelle, Johnson, Christopher, and, hopefully, Stevens or another diamond in the rough from another team.
I agree Bryant won’t get much run, and we could saved that money for someone. But I think tyus was probably promised the starting job, thats why he bet on himself on took that vet. That’s the difference, him wanting to start, and pass to kd,booker,Beal. He could probably get you 15 and 10 and his next contract would sky rocket next season. Also love all the new, young,fresh,talent. I can’t wait until they get some pt, especially WAREWOLF.
Yes, it appears you are correct about him wanting the starting job.
Another good player goes elsewhere. I am really still hopeful we will do something to improve this team before the season starts. It can’t be that our management thinks this team has enough. It has to be they are working on something.
Goran played some of his best basketball during that playoff run, up until he got injured. A year later, he and Precious Achiuwa were traded to Toronto for Kevin Lowry, at the insistence of his “close buddy” Jimmy Butler. We all know how that turned out.
Yep.
Still, I wouldn’t say that Lowry was all bad.
$90 million/3years 11.37ppg bad. Came in to camp out of shape with a crappy attitude bad. Missed 25% of team’s games bad. Not happy coming off the bench for Miami but happy to do so for the 76ers bad. For a guy who was supposed to be a team leader he set a piss poor example. Other than that, he was great!
P.S. Thank you Jimmy! Don’t blame Riley or Spo, you’re the one who wanted him.
There was a stretch of games in his first season, for 2-3 months, when he was the best player of the team.
Still, this trade was a mistake, I agree with you.
Yes. I feel it wasn’t the player, it was the contract.
That’s exactly why players should stick to playing basketball instead of being a gm, we could of stayed with Goran, and precious, or get a better player instead of Lowry.
Exactly. Or even if we actually gave him what he was worth at that time – about $10 million a year, we would’ve had $20 million available to add one or two more players. That could have been the difference between runners up and champions.
Absolutely! I think Jimmy owes Miami a team friendly discount for that F-Up.
Yup. LeBron has done the same thing with coaches and players and they have most often blown up in his face. He then gets them fired because of his mistake. I hate prima donnas.
Exactly I feel the same way, but at least he got us 2 chips. I honestly wish Jimmy wanted to win more because if he did, he would take a paycut like Brunson. Wade and bosh took a paycut to get LeBron, but no he wants max money so badly, that he bet on himself to try to get another max contract.
PLUS, he wants max money to play in a income tax-free state. I’m in California. As a millionaire, he would pay 13% state income tax if he was playing here. He should give Miami a 13% cut off the top and be happy. Gonna find out this year just how greedy he is. Jus sayin.
I wouldn’t offer him a max no matter what he does this season. It’s Bam’s team and the youth movement that has really made strides this year.
I agree.
I wouldn’t too. But saying that this is a Bams team is a bit optimistic.
I would say, this is Jimmies team, when he is fully present, and no ones, when he is not.
Which is, I believe, a serious problem Heat have.
I would go even further with opinion, that team with Bam as a main player wouldn’t be very good team.
Not as the main player, i agree. But as team captain, no problem.
yep, that fine.
Even tyus Jones took a pay cut (vet minimum) to play with your old suns team to try and win championship. So definitely gonna see how greedy Jimmy is.
Yup.
Kyle Lowry spent two and a half seasons with the Heat.
The first season, the Heat finished first in the East and made it to Game-7 of the ECF.
The second season, the Heat were a middling playoff team that made a run to the NBA finals.
The last half season, the Heat were a middling playoff team, then traded Lowry for Terry Rozier.
All the podcasters and commenters can say whatever they want, you can’t argue with the results. The Lowry experience in Miami was an overwhelming success. If you don’t appreciate that, it says more about you than it does about Lowry.
I will put this on my ‘definitely will miss’ list. 😀