NBA: Should the "bubble" game results get their own category in the history books?

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

Technically the bubble games were the oddest of anomalies for pro basketball. Players were separated from their families and "forced" to participate in glorified scrimmages in front of no live fans. The atmosphere, the environment, and overall format were so atypical of what you would find in a real basketball game, that these exhibitions can hardly be compared to actual games. Many players didn't want to be there and literally went through the motions. It was a "made for TV" event that benefited no one except the league in order to sell advertising. Fans were robbed, the players were robbed, and in the end, even the teams that performed well know it really didn't count for much.

Should the league scratch those games from the statistical records, or maybe just categorize them as "off the books" achievements, similar to how ABA players stats don't get included in their overall totals, but are tabulated separately? Maybe even equate them to preseason type matches, or recognize the COVID games historically as its own tournament (similar to the in-season tournament) that really doesn't warrant an LOB trophy, but rather the "Bubble" trophy?

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Technically the bubble games were the oddest of anomalies for pro basketball. Players were separated from their families and "forced" to participate in glorified scrimmages in front of no live fans. The atmosphere, the environment, and overall format were so atypical of what you would find in a real basketball game, that these exhibitions can hardly be compared to actual games. Many players didn't want to be there and literally went through the motions. It was a "made for TV" event that benefited no one except the league in order to sell advertising. Fans were robbed, the players were robbed, and in the end, even the teams that performed well know it really didn't count for much.

Should the league scratch those games from the statistical records, or maybe just categorize them as "off the books" achievements, similar to how ABA players stats don't get included in their overall totals, but are tabulated separately? Maybe even equate them to preseason type matches, or recognize the COVID games historically as its own tournament (similar to the in-season tournament) that really doesn't warrant an LOB trophy, but rather the "Bubble" trophy?

Ed, qualifying NBA World les is beneath contempt.

This is a (must) system...and thus you quantify these events, exclusively. You tote them and enter them in the book. There is a running count because that is the way it was done at the first. & we ain't changin', not for all the rice in China. We started this-a-way and we're gonna go on to the end like this. And that's just the way it's gonna be.

Sometimes it works out/my '85. Sometimes it's a total ing disaster/my '84 & your Miami foray.

Let us proceed...

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

Ed, qualifying NBA World les is beneath contempt.

This is a (must) system...and thus you quantify these events, exclusively. You tote them and enter them in the book. There is a running count because that is the way it was done at the first. & we ain't changin', not for all the rice in China. We started this-a-way and we're gonna go on to the end like this. And that's just the way it's gonna be.

Sometimes it works out/my '85. Sometimes it's a total ing disaster/my '84 & your Miami foray.

Let us proceed...

I suppose you're right. History already largely ignores the bubble games. It's still a travesty, though, that they even went through the motions that year. I think the league lost some fans for how all of that was handled. I'm too much a fan of consistency I guess. Heck, if I had it my way there might not be a three-point line, as the game has been morphed into a long-range shooting contest because of that stripe.

As a lifelong baseball fan I still consider Hank Aaron to be the home run king, because of Barry Bonds and the steroid era tainting the record books. Some achievements are a sham when you look back at them, hollow and incomparable because of their huge departure from traditional compe ion, and the bubble games in basketball fit in that category.

But someone had to win I suppose. Probably not the worst thing for LA to have won that one as they just threw the trophy on the pile, notched the belt, and moved on. I'd hate to have seen it go to a never-won as the only LOB in the case.

[MultiTroll]

Their own category would be fine Ed.
Most appropriate.

1st - Davis missteps a euro, hits Jokic in the shoulder - foul
2nd - Caruso with a slip/flop drop - foul
3rd - this one makes sense, but still looks soft
4th - little contact, Dwight flops - foul
5th - Davis throws himself on Jokic - foul

[Hank Scorpio]

Should have made this a poll, smh

[Kim Jong-il]

It absolutely deserves an asterisk of some kind. The team that, by a mile, stood the most to gain from never having to travel and receiving extra recovery time ended up being the team that won it all? What a shock!

[lefty]

Al teams played under the same conditions
the Lakers, but the bubble excuse is BS

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Their own category would be fine Ed.
Most appropriate.

1st - Davis missteps a euro, hits Jokic in the shoulder - foul
2nd - Caruso with a slip/flop drop - foul
3rd - this one makes sense, but still looks soft
4th - little contact, Dwight flops - foul
5th - Davis throws himself on Jokic - foul

Only pussies & assholes blame the officiating.

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Al teams played under the same conditions
the Lakers, but the bubble excuse is BS

lefty

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It absolutely deserves an asterisk of some kind. The team that, by a mile, stood the most to gain from never having to travel and receiving extra recovery time ended up being the team that won it all? What a shock!

Only pussies & assholes lodge asterisks.

[Kim Jong-il]

Only pussies & assholes lodge asterisks.

Shut up, got.

[baseline bum]

Only pussies & assholes lodge asterisks.

Like the one you lodge on Joseph Robinette for stomping Dennison in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada?

[ambchang]

Only pussies & assholes lodge asterisks.

Like how the PotUS Joe Biden stole the election?

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Like how the PotUS Joe Biden stole the election?

The Left stole them both, amb. But that's democracy.

America has nary a thing on Russia. Nary.

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Like the one you lodge on Joseph Robinette for stomping Dennison in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada?

I don't lodge asterisks, ever. It's my religion.

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Shut up, got.

You go to all that trouble, expense and humiliation to rob, then lynch Sterling in the street and you've done nary better. Nary.

[baseline bum]

I don't lodge asterisks, ever. It's my religion.

You're a pussy and an asshole. It's your religion.

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You're a pussy and an asshole. It's your religion.

You've been on the rag for years, bum.

[Tyronn Lue]

If you suited up for that game and you lost, you lost. I'm confident the players and coaches on all teams knew going in what the deal was, yet in they went.

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If you suited up for that game and you lost, you lost. I'm confident the players and coaches on all teams knew going in what the deal was, yet in they went.

& you, you SOB. Slinkin' around me, portending to be my buddy and then come to find out you're a rat, tattlin' to the Sysop. "Dale this. Dale that."

You make me want to vomit. You vermin, you.

[ambchang]

The Left stole them both, amb. But that's democracy.

America has nary a thing on Russia. Nary.

Yup, lodge that asterisk!

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Yup, lodge that asterisk!

I don't lodge asterisks, ever. It's my religion.

[ambchang]

I don't lodge asterisks, ever. It's my religion.

So stealing an election is just like all other elections?

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So stealing an election is just like all other elections?

What's that got to do with the price of eggs.

[Tyronn Lue]

& you, you SOB. Slinkin' around me, portending to be my buddy and then come to find out you're a rat, tattlin' to the Sysop. "Dale this. Dale that."

You make me want to vomit. You vermin, you.

Never said anything to anyone.