Coaches vow to do better with mask-wearing
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’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 11 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 two postponements were announced Friday; Cleveland’s games at Washington on Sunday and Monday are off because the Wizards won’t have enough players.
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.
Properly wearing masks is part of life now, not just NBA life, as part of the effort to fend off the coronavirus. But when coaches feel the need to yell — which, let’s face it, is often — many still succumb to the urge to tug the mask down and make sure their voice is heard without whatever muffling can be caused by a thin piece of fabric.
“It isn’t always easy,” Toronto 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. And sometimes in the heat of battle, it’s difficult.”
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.
Boston didn’t play for a full week and had three games pushed back. Miami 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 contacttracing data. Phoenix 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, against Phoenix. Little did they know then that they would have at least the next nine days off; the earliest the Wizards will play again is this coming Wednesday in Charlotte.