Rough week gets worse for NBA

Three more postponements announced Friday bring the total to 12 games called off this week due to positive COVID-19 tests.

The NBA gave Magic coach Steve Clifford a call recently, telling him he had to do a better job of keeping his mask on during games.

Clifford’s answer was concise.

“Yes, sir,” he said.

He didn’t argue. He knows the rules, and how important they are.

It has been a rough week for the NBA, with 12 games postponed since Sunday amid positive COVID-19 tests for some players and potential exposures determined through contact tracing keeping others off the floor for several days. The latest three postponements were announced Friday; The Cavaliers’ games at Washington on Sunday and Monday are off because the Wizards won’t have enough players. Six Wizards players have tested positive for COVID-19, and another three are in the NBA’s health protocols.

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 — particularly when it comes to masks.

“It isn’t always easy,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said of in-game mask life. “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. But I’ve got to try to limit that the best I can.”

The postponed games, going back to Sunday, involve 14 teams. It was also learned this week that 16 players tested positive in recent days, which was more than the NBA had seen in the last five weeks combined. And next week’s report has the potential to be equally bad, possibly worse.

The Celtics didn’t play for a full week and had three games pushed back. The Heat lost twice in Philadelphia with half its roster unavailable because of virus-related issues, most of those involved players having to sit out after reviews of their contact-tracing data. The Suns had a three-game homestand wiped away because the Suns didn’t have enough players to field a team.

And now the Wizards have seen four games called. They last played Monday.

Little did they know then that they would have at least the next nine days off; the earliest the Wizards will play again is Wednesday in Charlotte.