NBA continues to struggle with virus issues
Another three NBA games were postponed Friday, including one in Minnesota only a couple hours before game time, as the league’s struggle with increasing coronavirus numbers continued.
Among the revelations Friday: Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns, whose mother and six other relatives have died from covid-19, said he has tested positive. The Washington Wizards said that they have six players who are positive as well, and another three players out because contact tracing data suggested they could have been exposed.
“I pray every day that this nightmare of a virus will subside and I beg everyone to take it seriously by taking all of the necessary precautions,” Towns wrote on social media.
The Timberwolves’ game with the Memphis Grizzlies was called off, as were what would have been Wizards’ home games Sunday and Monday against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“The NBA’s been pointing to this period for quite some time, that this was going to be very difficult,” Wizards General Manager Tommy Sheppard said. “And they weren’t kidding.”
The current tally of postponements: 13 since the start of the season, 12 of them — involving 16 of the NBA’s 30 teams — since Sunday alone. Washington has seen four of its games pushed back, while Boston and Phoenix have had three postponements. The Celtics returned to the floor Friday night against Orlando, Boston’s first game in a week.
“We’re all very grateful to be here and get a chance to play and compete,” Celtics Coach Brad Stevens said.
Miami — which lost two games at Philadelphia this week with only eight players available — could get as many as six of its eight covid-affected players who have missed time this week, largely because of contact tracing, back today for a game against Detroit. All-Star Jimmy Butler will remain out, the Heat said, as will Avery Bradley.
The Wizards are just hoping to have players in to resume workouts. No basketball has been played in their facility for most of this week. Between covid-related issues, and injuries to Russell Westbrook and Thomas Bryant, Washington has six players available right now.
The Wizards last played Monday, against Phoenix. The earliest they’ll play again is this coming Wednesday in Charlotte. The Suns had a three-game home stand wiped away because they didn’t have enough cleared players.
“I think four teams have missed multiple games,” Sheppard said. “I think that’s a small victory considering what’s going on out there around the league.”
Minnesota’s next game on the schedule is Monday, the league’s traditional game on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Atlanta. The news that any player has the virus would be crushing, and that it was Towns was particularly so given what his family has endured.
“Karl is the most important part of this organization,” Timberwolves President Gersson Rosas said. “For what he’s gone through, what Karl Sr.’s gone through, it couldn’t be more heartbreaking today.”
Even coaches know they have to increase their own efforts. The NBA gave Orlando Coach Steve Clifford a call recently, telling him he had to do a better job of keeping his mask on during games.
Clifford didn’t argue.
His response to the call? “Yes, sir,” he said.
The league and the National Basketball Players Association earlier this week stiffened the protocols that players must live by during these delicate times, and coaches aren’t exempt from saying they need to be more diligent on the safety front as well.
Masks are now required on sidelines, for both coaches and players. But when coaches feel the need to yell, many still succumb to the urge to tug the mask down and make sure their voice is heard.
“It isn’t always easy,” Toronto Coach Nick Nurse said. “Sometimes I’m in the huddle or on the floor, and I’m doing all kinds of things to try to keep my mask on [and] let guys hear me, and after the third time they say, ‘Coach, I can’t hear what you’re saying,’ you try to pull it down quick.”