August 31, 2020

 

I guess what I needed was just a good night’s sleep, and that is exactly what I got.  When I got around to starting my routine, off to the gym I headed.  I said hello to bathing beauty that, as expected, was lying in her usual location.  I made quick work of my exercises then headed towards the dining area via the bridges that are out on the lagoon.  I felt so much better compared to yesterday.  I wondered if the fact that today was the last day of August, that I only had one more month to go, is what caused the change.  I didn’t care what it was, I was just relieved to be out to the funk.

While crossing the bridge I spot Rudy Gobert coming right at me as he headed towards the restaurant.  His Jazz were coming off a loss to the Nuggets forcing a game seven in their first round of the playoffs.  Rudy was also infamous for downplaying the Coronavirus before the NBA shutdown.  Many recall him touching the microphones, chairs, tables, everything in sight after a post-game press conference, mocking the COVID precautions.  And after the NBA shut everything down back in March, who was the first player to come down with COVID?  Yep, him.  And as he was coming at me, he did not have a mask on.

When I got to our dining area I was welcomed to significant change.  There was a fresh salad bar, a dessert bar that contained several varieties of the most wonderful fattening foods available, and a children’s meal section.  Oh yeah, families of the players have entered the bubble and today is the day that many will be released from quarantine.  I looked at these changes as a glass half full, glass half empty scenario.  It was wonderful to have the great improvements to our dining options, yet on the other hand, were those of us that have been here for nearly two months not worthy of these upgrades?  And, as I sat down with my meal (it was raining outside now so I had to dine indoors) I noticed some players and families were inside eating with us. I was seated next to Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and his troupe.  The first thing that entered my mind was how long before the NBA places our dining area, or a large portion of it, off limits to those of us in steerage?  Let’s hope we can simply continue as is.

Regarding the families, so many small children were everywhere. This made life in the bubble seem so much like real life.  We hadn’t seen any kids for two months, except on television. The novelty of running in to NBA players had escaped but now the chance of waving hello to a two year old wildly exploring his new playground seemed so much more enjoyable. The families set free today were noticeably delighted with their newfound freedom.  I recalled the feeling I felt upon my release.

My game tonight was the late one.  I caught the 4:00pm bus for the 9:00pm tip with OKC hoping to remain alive against the Houston Rockets.  I was tasked with running the reverse camera for this contest.  The camera is located on the floor, but atop a scissor lift that extends about twenty five feet into the air.  The camera is directly opposite the location of the game and tight cameras.  It is extremely valuable in obtaining clean shots of players that may not be looking in the direction of the regular tight and slash cameras. And, for replay purposes, the angle is pretty much one hundred and eighty degrees from the other cameras and provides yet another valuable perspective. But what I really like about the camera was that it was high above the floor, isolated, no one around, and I could cheat every so often and pull my mask away from my face and relive the days of running a camera pre COVID.  I was definitely social distancing as no one was anywhere near me, and the platform rose pretty much to the same level as one of the court lighting grids and the bright lights prevented me from being discovered breaking protocol. I thought I had found my favorite camera to run during this pandemic.

The Thunder needed a win to prevent being eliminated from the bubble. This was also the first game that family members could attend.  I think I counted five lonely spectators sitting in the family section that might have been attached to a player.  And one of those in attendance was Doc Rivers, once again watching his son Austin as he performed with the Rockets.

Chris Paul came out on fire.  During timeouts he was continuously coaching his teammates and while on the court, running the offense.  Houston stuck with their original plan of encouraging Luguentz Dort, the football like rookie from Arizona State University, to shoot whenever possible.  That’s what they did in their previous meeting and it worked.  This time, Dort was hitting his shots.  Couple that with the sparkplug antics of Dennis Schroder and the hot hand of Paul, OKC game away with the win and forced a game seven. 

No teams were eliminated from the playoffs today.  As August came to a close the original team count of twenty two had been whittled down to ten.  Within two days, that number will be thinned to eight and the second round of the NBA Playoffs will officially have begun.  Mind you, there already has been some second round games played already by teams in the Eastern Conference, but I did not work those games.  You don’t expect me to write about every game do you?