Both the Eastern and Western Conference Finals have now concluded, which means the NBA Finals are right around the corner. How we’ve gotten to this point is unlike any other season in NBA history. Normally at this point of the year, the NBA would be nearing the end of the offseason, training facilities would be opening, and teams would begin to prepare for the preseason. Due to COVID-19 however, the NBA season had been put on pause. Here’s a little backstory.

On March 11, 2020, prior to a regular season game between the Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder, it was announced that Utah’s All-Star center Rudy Gobert had contracted the coronavirus. Gobert had become the first NBA player to test positive for the virus, and the game was immediately postponed. Later that night, the league was suspended until further notice. It was not until 85 days later that the league announced that the season would be resuming in a “bubble” located in Walt Disney World Resort. Twenty two of the 30 NBA teams were invited to play in this bubble and each of the 22 teams were to play eight seeding games before the playoffs could start. On July 30, the first two seeding games were played, thus marking the resumption of the NBA season. The final seeding games were played on August 14, 2020, and all that remained before the playoffs could start was a play-in tournament between the Portland Trail Blazers and Memphis Grizzlies.

The Portland Trail Blazers won this matchup and clinched the eighth seed in the Western Conference. The playoffs were set.
Out west, the first seeded Los Angeles Lakers faced off against the eighth seeded Portland Trail Blazers. Going into the series, given that NBA bubble MVP Damian Lillard was on fire; some believed that Portland would pull off the upset and move on to the second round. Although the Trail Blazers stole game one, the Lakers won the series in five games, crushing Portland’s hopes of an upset.

The second seeded Los Angeles Clippers played their first round of the playoffs against the seventh seeded Dallas Mavericks. Los Angeles took two of the first three games, however Luka Doncic helped the Mavericks avoid a three games to one deficit by hitting a buzzer beating game-winner in game four. Doncic’s shot would be the first of four game winning shots at the buzzer in the first three rounds of the playoffs this season.

Game four would be the final game of the series in which the Mavericks would come out victorious, and the Clippers went on to win the series in six games. The first round matchup between the third seeded Denver Nuggets and sixth seeded Utah Jazz became one for the record books. Utah was coming into the series without Bojan Bogdanovic, their forward that averaged 20.2 points a game in the regular season. Bogdanovic required surgery on his wrist and was shut down for the remainder of the season. Denver took game one, but proceeded to lose three straight, giving Utah a 3-1 series lead. To everyone’s surprise, Denver went on to win three straight games, becoming only the twelfth team in NBA history to overcome a three games to one series deficit.

The final first round matchup in the Western Conference was played by the fourth seeded Houston Rockets and the fifth seeded Oklahoma City Thunder. Houston’s star point guard Russell Westbrook was sidelined for the start of the series due to injury, which meant James Harden was given the responsibility of keeping the Rockets alive without his sidekick. Through the first two games of the series it seemed that Harden was doing well without Westbrook, giving the Rockets a 2-0 lead. Houston then dropped games three and four, thus tying the series score at two games apiece. Westbrook returned in game five, a game in which Houston won by 34 points. Game six was rough for the Rockets, and especially rough for Westbrook. The star point guard finished with only 17 points, while also racking up seven turnovers, including the turnover that would cost Houston the game. Oklahoma City forced a game seven, a game in which they would lose by two points.

The Lakers, Clippers, Nuggets, and Rockets all advanced to the Western Conference Semifinals. In the Eastern Conference, the first round was not as entertaining as it was in the Western Conference. Three of the four series resulted in a four game sweep. The eighth seeded Orlando Magic stunned NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and the first seeded Milwaukee Bucks by winning game one, but the Magic proceeded to lose the next four games. The series between the second seeded Toronto Raptors and the seventh seeded Brooklyn Nets only lasted four games. The third seeded Boston Celtics closed out their opponent, the sixth seeded Philadelphia 76ers, in four games as well, as did the fifth seeded Miami Heat with their opponent, the fourth seeded Indiana Pacers.

The second round of the NBA playoffs featured some highly anticipated matchups. The Western Conference saw a matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Houston Rockets and a matchup between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Denver Nuggets. Both the Lakers and Rockets were considered by many to be championship contenders this season, however the Lakers height advantage proved to be too much for Houston’s small ball system to handle, closing out the Rockets in five games. The Los Angeles Clippers, led by reigning NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard, were expected to cruise by the Denver Nuggets, and after one game it looked like they would, winning game one by 23 points. The Nuggets bounced back, taking game two away from Los Angeles.  However, they then lost games three and four. The series was evidently over, but Denver then won games five, six, and seven, en route to becoming the first team in NBA history to overcome two 3-1 series deficits in a single postseason.

Denver was not the only team to pull off a wild upset in the second round of the playoffs this season. The Milwaukee Bucks had captured the best record in the NBA this season, and were expected by many to run through the Eastern Conference and make it to the finals. The Miami Heat seemed to have other plans though, taking a commanding 3-0 lead over Milwaukee. Milwaukee’s star Giannis Antetokounmpo tweaked his ankle in game three, an injury which would get the MVP pulled from game four. Surprisingly, the Bucks managed to win game four, allowing Milwaukee to avoid being swept. Unfortunately for Antetokounmpo and his squad, their season was over after losing game five. The Miami Heat had pulled off the shocking upset. Meanwhile, for the first time in NBA history, the Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors faced off in a playoff series. The Boston Celtics were forced to play this series without Gordon Hayward, who missed games two through four of the first round after tweaking his ankle in game one against the 76ers. Without Hayward, the Celtics managed to take games one and two from Toronto. It looked as if Boston would take a three games to none lead over the Raptors when a Daniel Theis dunk put the Celtics up two points with less than a second left in game three, but a game-winning three point jump shot by Toronto forward OG Anunoby helped the Raptors avoid that dreaded three games to none hole. After stealing game three, the Raptors used that momentum to win game four as well. Though Toronto was victorious in games three and four, game five was a very different story, with Boston winning by 22 points. The Celtics, led by Jayson Tatum, had a chance to close out Toronto in game six, but the Raptors stayed alive after winning game six by three points in double overtime, thus setting up a game seven. Despite star guard Kemba Walker’s struggles, Boston managed to win game seven and keep their season alive. The Eastern and Western Conference Finals were set.

The Western Conference Finals were played by the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets. This series went as expected, with the Lakers advancing to the NBA Finals after defeating the Nuggets in five games. With the Los Angeles Lakers advancing to the NBA Finals, the Lakers’ legendary forward LeBron James will be facing off against his former team, the Miami Heat, in the NBA Finals. Miami finished Boston off in the Eastern Conference Finals in six games, as Heat rookie Tyler Herro had a phenomenal series. Herro had a 37 point outing in game four and finished the series averaging 19 points off the bench. With that, the NBA Finals can finally begin. The Finals are set to start on Wednesday, September 30. By making the Finals as the fifth seed, the Miami Heat have become the lowest seeded team to make it to the NBA Finals since the New York Knicks in 1999. This will be Lebron James’ tenth NBA Finals series, and the ninth NBA Finals in ten seasons to feature James. It does not normally take a full calendar year for an NBA season to end, but this season has been far from normal.