NBA Bubble Awards: Damian Lillard named MVP, Booker and Doncic join him in First Team Seeding Games
Commissioner Adam Silver declared the NBA Bubble restart an unqualified success yesterday. All fans of the game are probably in agreement in him, as the NBA bubble provided a safe haven for players to be in as they resumed their championship quest.
The league had announced that there would be some NBA Bubble awards to be handed out for the 8 seeding games played by each team in Disney World. The results of the NBA Bubble award voting came out today and are as follows
NBA Bubble Awards: MVP - Damian Lillard
The Portland Trail Blazers went 6-2 in the NBA bubble. They lost only to teams with records better than them in the Boston Celtics and the LA Clippers while beating the Mavs, Nuggets and Rockets, who have better records than them.
As expected of him, Damian Lillard was the primary source of offense for the team. He averaged a Herculean 37.6 points, 9.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game in these 8 games, and was almost always there when the Blazers needed him to make a clutch play. So dominant were his displays that the Blazers were able to ward off a dominant 8-0 run by the Suns in the NBA bubble to make the 8th seed and the play-in game.
NBA Bubble Awards: Best Coach - Jacque Vaughn
Heading into the NBA bubble, the Brooklyn Nets were the worst-hit team by injuries and Covid-19. Their 5 best players were all ruled out due to one or the other reasons, and of the 14 players they took to the bubble, half or more have been fighting to stay in the NBA their whole careers.
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Jacque Vaughn was able to figure out offensive schemes that used their prolific 3-point shooting to great effect, and he was helped immensely by Jarrett Allen manning their paint. The Brooklyn Nets went 5-3 in the bubble and Jacque Vaughn has made his best possible case to be permanent head coach from next season.
NBA Bubble Awards: All-Bubble First and Second Teams
Damian Lillard and Devin Booker - the two top candidates for the NBA Bubble MVP - headline the All-Bubble First Team. Luka Doncic, James Harden and TJ Warren round out the First Team, which, unlike the All-NBA teams, does not have positional restrictions of having to include players from all 5 traditional positions.
The All-Bubble Second Team comprises of only one guard in Caris LeVert. The other 4 players - Kawhi, Michael Porter Jr, Giannis and Porzingis - can all be categorized as forwards, or centers in the latter two's case.
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