NBA SEASON 2020- 21 PREVIEW Full coverage on
PREDICTIONS
The Times’ NBA crew of Dan Woike, Broderick Turner and Andrew Greif forecast the postseason and major award winners:
PLAYOFF QUALIFIERS ( in order of seeding) West Woike: Lakers, Clippers, Denver, Utah, Portland, Dallas, Phoenix,
Golden State Turner: Lakers, Clippers, Denver, Portland, Dallas, Utah,
Golden State, Houston Greif: Lakers, Clippers, Denver, Portland, Dallas, Utah, Phoenix,
Houston East Woike: Milwaukee, Boston, Miami, Brooklyn, Philadelphia,
Toronto, Washington, Atlanta Turner: Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Boston, Toronto, Philadelphia,
Miami, Indiana, Atlanta Greif: Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Boston, Miami, Philadelphia,
Atlanta, Raptors, Indiana Conference finals Woike: Lakers over Clippers; Boston over Milwaukee Turner: Lakers over Denver; Boston over Milwaukee Greif: Lakers over Clippers; Milwaukee over Philadelphia NBA champion Woike, Turner, and Greif: Lakers
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER ( runner- up, 3rd) Woike: Anthony Davis ( Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo) Turner: Davis ( Doncic, Antetokounmpo) Greif: Doncic ( Davis, Joel Embiid)
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR Woike: Obi Toppin, New York Turner: Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Greif: Obi Toppin, New York
WHAT’S NEW
72- game season The COVID- 19 pandemic led to the longest season in NBA history for 2019- 20, finishing Oct. 11. The NBA and its players’ union agreed to a season of 72 games, 10 fewer than usual, beginning Dec. 22 and ending July 22 if there is a Game 7 of the NBA Finals. That allows two things: NBA players to compete in the delayed Tokyo Olympics and the league to move to its usual calendar for the 2021- 22 season. Each team will play three games against its conference rivals and two games against teams from the other conference.
Play- in tournament At the conclusion of the regular season, the postseason will begin with the sevenththrough 10th- place teams based on winning percentages in each conference playing into the first round of the playoffs. The Nos. 7 and 8 teams will play for the seventh spot, while the loser of that game will have a playoff against the winner of the Nos. 9 and 10 teams for the eighth and final spot. Higher- seeded teams host each playoff game.
Rules 8 The coach’s challenge, which was experimental last season, is here to stay. Of the 700 calls challenged last season, 308 ( 44%) were overturned. 8 Rosters will be expanded on game day from 13 to 15 players.