Exciting 2nd half awaits league, but virus may still have a say
While LeBron James was largely resting through the All-Star Game, the Brooklyn Nets were adding another piece for a run at his title.
With James still near the top of his game and the Nets on top of the league in scoring, it’s easy to envision a coast-to-coast NBA Finals when a champion is crowned in July.
But, when most teams resume play Thursday — the same date last season was suspended — the leaders in the Eastern Conference might be doing so without their two best players.
As proven again when Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons had to sit out the All-Star Game, the coronavirus might still have a say on this season, making uncertainty a sizable obstacle in the title chase.
“You’re playing every other day. You don’t know when you’re going to have practice time. You don’t know as far as what the restrictions and with COVID and things of that nature if you’re going to have all your guys,” James said. “So it’s very challenging for all teams, not just us.”
The bigger problem for the Lakers has been the absence of All-Star Anthony Davis because of a right calf injury. The defending champions have struggled without him, dropping six of eight to end the first half and falling 3 ½ games behind surprising West leader Utah.
The Nets have also been without an All-Star, though
they’ve hardly missed Kevin Durant because of the brilliance of James Harden and Kyrie Irving. Blake Griffin agreed to join them Sunday night after the six-time AllStar cleared waivers after securing his buyout from Detroit.
“We’re fortunate to be able to add a player of Blake’s caliber to our roster at this point in the season,” Nets general manager Sean Marks said.
Brooklyn comes out of the break a half-game behind Philadelphia. Embiid has been a force this season and become a leading MVP candidate, but he and Simmons were ruled out of the All-Star Game on Sunday morning because they got haircuts from a barber
who tested positive for COVID-19.
They may not be cleared to return until the weekend, after the Sixers have played their first two games of the second half.
“We start on the road, back-to-back games, with one practice. That’s a challenge in itself, right?,” Sixers coach Doc Rivers said. “Then, obviously, not having those guys, that’s a lot of points, our two best defenders. So, obviously, it would hurt.”
Teams are used to it after a first half in which the unavailability of players and coaches because of health and safety protocols forced 31 games to be called off. For every team, the first big test of the second half
is the coronavirus one that will determine who is good to go upon returning from break.
Once that’s finished, teams can look ahead to a busy and exciting stretch run. With many clubs bunched in the standings and another play-in tournament opening up additional paths to the postseason, even teams that weren’t as sharp as they hoped in the first half have reason for hope.
That includes teams such as Miami and Boston — last season’s Eastern Conference finalists — plus Dallas and Golden State, all at or barely above .500 but perhaps just one hot streak from a nice leap up the standings.
» After a season of mostly empty ballparks in Chicago, the famed marquee at Wrigley Field said it all.
“Welcome home, Cubs fans,” it read.
Thousands of masked fans of the Cubs and White Sox will get to see their teams play in person beginning on opening day, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Monday. Each team will be limited to 20% capacity, but it was enough to send some fans off to Wrigley to celebrate.
“For everybody (the last year) has been super rough, you know, being enclosed in the house for months and months,” Nelson Gonzalez said near the Cubs’ neighborhood ballpark. “I know that people are ready to go out and start living their normal lives.”
The capacity limitations mean the White Sox can admit as many as 8,122 fans to Guaranteed Rate Field, and the Cubs will be allowed to admit as many as 8,274 fans per game.
“As a diehard sports fan myself, I’m personally excited to have Chicago take its first, cautious steps toward
safely reopening our beloved baseball stadiums to fans this season,” Lightfoot said. “We’re able to do that thanks to the commitment of our city’s two great baseball franchises who continue to work in close partnership with Chicago’s public health officials to find solutions that are not only safe, but offer a path forward toward safely increasing stadium capacity as we move closer into our COVID-19 recovery.”
Though the announcement clears the way for fans in the stands for the first time since the 2019
season, the mask requirement is just one of several changes that will make the experience of going to the ballpark look and feel a bit different. Cash will not be accepted at concession stands or in souvenir shops. Also, everyone from players to fans “can expect comprehensive screening and sanitization procedures based on the latest scientific guidance,” according to the city’s news release.
At Wrigley, according to a team release, the food menu will be limited to individually packaged items and the only bags fans will be allowed to bring into the park are small clutch purses, medical bags and, if they have infants, diaper bags.
Both teams will implement pod seating to keep groups of fans a safe distance from each other.
Major league teams have been announcing in recent weeks that fans will be allowed to return to stadiums. Some teams have not specified how many fans will be allowed. Other teams that have set their opening-day capacity at 20% include the Philadelphia Phillies and the Los Angeles Angels. The Milwaukee Brewers and the Colorado Rockies will limit capacity to 25% and St. Louis Cardinals have set the capacity limit at 32%. The Kansas City Royals will limit capacity to about 30%, according to the team.
In Chicago, the announcement comes after the city, because of a drop in the number of COVID-19 cases, recently started allowing limited indoor seating. Just last week, the restaurants and bars in the city were told they can increase their indoor seating capacity to 50%.
ACROSS
1 Water filter
brand
6 Voice below
baritone
10 Major Web portal 13 Grows faint 14 Informal okay 16 “Now I get it!” 17 Wind of 19-24 mph, on the Beaufort scale 19 Reservoir
structure 20 Swimmer that
may be furry 21 Inlet, vis-à-vis the
sea
22 Classic Lanvin
scent
24 In addition
26 Big name in
bouillon cubes 27 Japanese living
art form
30 Iberian dance
for two 33 Summer on the
Seine
34 Danes of
“Homeland” 36 Kept the party
hopping, briefly 37 Scenic road,
maybe 39 Albuquerque sch. 40 Dahl who wrote “Fantastic Mr
Fox”
41 Ready for
business 42 Present from birth 44 Zen opening? 45 Pointy flags 47 Sports coat
49 Full of chutzpah 50 States
51 What a voter fills
out
53 Golf scorecard
word
54 Soybean product 58 Gershwin
brother
59 “The Hunger Games” trilogy, e.g.
62 Light brown 63 Upright
64 “Divine Comedy”
poet
65 Unlike the starts of this puzzle’s four longest answers 66 Site for
handmade gifts 67 Little ones
DOWN
1 Inseparable pals,
briefly
2 Seldom spotted 3 Half-baked
thought, perhaps 4 Popular electric
cars
5 Shade of gray 6 Grand Canyon
pack animal 7 “May I say
something?” 8 The Beatles’ “__
Loves You” 9 Somers who played Chrissy on “Three’s Company” 10 Genre for a John
Lewis quartet 11 Layered
hairstyle 12 Bering Sea port 15 King in “Jesus
Christ Superstar” 18 Thai cuisine herb 23 Madrid museum 25 Like some bridal
dresses 26 Destiny 27 Early form of
10-Down 28 Common blood
group
29 Patriots’ home 30 Helsinki natives 31 Hair salon
application 32 More unusual 35 Mommy’s sis 38 Invalidate 40 Depend (on) 42 About to happen 43 Vintage ski lifts 46 Make amends 48 Off the right path 50 Like sea water 51 __-Honey: candy
bar
52 Depleted
Eurasian sea 53 Push-up targets 55 Sow sound
56 Big celebration 57 Puts in the
lineup 60 Racetrack doc 61 D.C. summer hrs.