Pictured: Not "social distancing."
October 11, 2020: The Los Angeles Lakers clinch the NBA Championship, beating the Miami Heat, 106-93 in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, at the COVID-19-forced neutral site -- the "bubble," where the entire NBA Playoffs were held, in front of no paying fans -- of the AdventHealth Arena in the Orlando suburb of Bay Lake, Florida.
It was the 4th NBA Championship, and the 4th Bill Russell Award for the Most Valuable Player of the Finals, for the 3rd different team, for LeBron James. He had previously won with the Heat in 2012 and 2013, and with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016. Of course, he had engineered his shift to the Lakers, after abandoning the Cavs for the 2nd time after the 2018 Finals. There was no bitterness that time, because he had finally won them a title.
It was also the 4th title for 40-year-old Udonis Haslem, who was LeBron's teammate on the 2012 and '13 Heat, and who also won with the Heat in 2006. It's the 3rd title for Danny Green, who beat LeBron, Udonis and the Heat in the '14 Finals for the San Antonio Spurs, and won in 2019 with the Toronto Raptors. It was also the 3rd title for JaVale McGee, who beat LeBron's Cavs with the 2017 and '18 Golden State Warriors.
It was the 2nd title for 4-time All-Star Rajon Rondo, who previously won with the 2008 Boston Celtics. It was the 2nd title for Quinn Cook, who was on the '18 Warriors. And it was the 2nd title for J.R. Smith, the Lakewood, New Jersey native who won with LeBron and the '16 Cavs, but was a target of ridicule for his mistake in the '17 Finals.
It was the 1st title, at any level, for the Lakers' head coach, Frank Vogel. It was also the 1st title for 34-year-old 8-time All-Star Dwight Howard, 27-year-old 7-time All-Star Anthony Davis, 35-year-old never All-Star Jared Dudley, 30-year-old never All-Star Markieff Morris, and for Kostas Antetokounmpo, younger brother of 4-time Milwaukee Bucks All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who had yet to reach an NBA Finals. (He won it all the next year.)
Rondo became the 1st player ever to win titles with both the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. Clyde Lovellette had won titles with the Celtics and the Minneapolis Lakers.
McGee and Quinn Cook joined Jamaal Wilkes as the only players to win titles with both the Lakers and the Warriors, regardless of what cities those franchises played in. (The Warriors played in Philadelphia from 1946 to 1962, and the Lakers in Minneapolis from 1947 to 1960.)
LeBron and Danny Green (2014 Spurs and 2019 Raptors) joined John Salley (1989 and '90 Pistons, 1996 Bulls, 2000 Lakers) and Robert Horry (1994 & '95 Houston Rockets; 2000, '01 & '02 Lakers; 2005 & '07 San Antonio Spurs) as the only players to win titles with 3 different teams. Haslem joined Salley and Tim Duncan (1999, 2003, '05, '07 and '14 Spurs) as the only players to win NBA titles in 3 different decades.
Rondo joined A.C. Green as the only players to win an NBA title in one decade, not win one in the next, and then win one in the next. His 12-year gap between titles exceeded Green's 11-year gap (1988-2000), and was 2nd all-time only to that of Sam Cassell, his teammate on the '08 Celtics, who had also won with the 1995 Houston Rockets, 13 years earlier.
Finally, in this, the NBA's 74th and longest season, the Lakers tied the Celtics for the most NBA Championships, 17:
* Celtics: 1957, '59, '60, '61, '62, '63, '64, '65, '66, '68, '69, '74, '76, '81, '84, '86 and 2008.
* Lakers: 1949, '50, '52, '53, '54, '72, '80, '82, '85, '87, '88, '2000, '01, '02, '08, '09 and 2020.
Meaning that 2 franchises have won 34 of the 74 NBA Championships, or 46 percent of them. Throw in the 6 titles won by the Warriors, the 6 won by and the Bulls, and the 5 won by the Spurs, and that's 5 teams winning 69 percent of the titles.
For comparison's sake, here was the ratios of the top 5 teams in the other 3 sports at that time:
* MLB, starting with the 1st World Series in 1903: Yankees 27, Cardinals 11, Red Sox 10, Athletics 9, Giants 8. That's 65 out of 117, or 55 percent. So, even with the old domination by the Yankees, the MLB was more equitable than the NBA.
* NFL, starting in 1920: Packers 13, Bears 9, Giants 8, Steelers 6, Patriots 6. That's 42 out of 100, or 42 percent.
* NHL, starting with the 1st Stanley Cup won by a current team, 1916: Canadiens 24, Maple Leafs 13, Red Wings 11, Bruins 6 and Blackhawks 6. That's 60 out of 103, or 58 percent.
Of course, the 1st 5 Laker titles came in Minneapolis, so, really, the Celtics still led, 17-12. The next-closest teams were the Bulls with 6 and the Spurs with 5.
And the Lakers and Celtics have faced each other in more NBA Finals than any other matchup, 12: The Celtics winning in 1959, '62, '63, '65, '66, '68, '69, '84 and 2008; and the Lakers winning in 1985, '87 and 2009.
However, this was, without question, the most asterisk-worthy title in NBA history. It was unlike any other season, and any other Playoffs. There wasn't home-court advantage for anyone. From 2008 to 2012, including their 2010 title, the Lakers won 5 straight Division titles. In the 10 years after that, here is where they finished in the Western Conference: 7th, 14th, 14th, 15th, 14th, 11th, 10th, 1st (the 2020 title), 7th, 11th.
The end of the Kobe Bryant era was bad, which was understandable. But the LeBron era has been crowned by that asterisk-worthy title. By Laker standards, which means multiple titles, this period has been a failure, every bit as much as their Wilt Chamberlain era, where, in 5 seasons, they made 3 Finals but only won 1 title.
And, unlike Wilt, LeBron has been, effective, all of these things for the Lakers: Best all-around player, best scorer, best passer, head coach, general manager and chief scout. No one player, in any sport, has ever had that much power over a team. Perhaps none ever should again.
UPDATE: The Lakers again finished 7th in 2023 and 2024. The Bubble Season aside, they have not made the Finals since 2010. And the Celtics won an 18th title in 2024.
*
October 11, 2020 was a Sunday. The NHL had also decided its title later than usual, on September 28, with the Tampa Bay Lightning winning the Stanley Cup, beating the Dallas Stars in 6 games.
Baseball's postseason was also in progress, and "in a bubble." Or, rather, 2 bubbles: Petco Park in San Diego, a National League ballpark, for the American League Playoffs; and Globe Life Field in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas, an AL ballpark, for the NL Playoffs.
There was 1 game on this day, Game 1 of the AL Championship Series, at Petco. The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Houston Astros, 2-1. Blake Snell outpitched Framber Valdez. Randy Arozarena hit a home run. The Rays went on to win the series in 7 games, but lost the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
And these NFL games were played:
* The New York Giants lost to the Dallas Cowboys, 37-34 at AT&T Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.
* The New York Jets lost to the Arizona Cardinals, 30-10 at State Farm Stadium in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.
* The Baltimore Ravens beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 27-3 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
* The Los Angeles Rams beat the Washington Football Team, 30-10 at FedEx Field (now Northwest Stadium) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland. This game marked the return of Washington quarterback Alex Smith from an injury that nearly killed him 2 years earlier. I have a separate entry for this event.
* The Carolina Panthers beat the Atlanta Falcons, 23-16 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
* The Houston Texans beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 30-14 at NRG Stadium (as Reliant Stadium was then known) in Houston.
* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 38-29 at Heinz Field (now Acrisure Stadium) in Pittsburgh.
* The Cleveland Browns beat the Indianapolis Colts, 32-23 at FirstEnergy Stadium (now named Huntington Bank Field) in Cleveland.
* The Las Vegas Raiders beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 40-32 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
* The Miami Dolphins beat the San Francisco 49ers, 43-17 at Levi's Stadium in the San Francisco suburb of Santa Clara, California.
* The Seattle Seahawks beat the Minnesota Vikings, 27-26 at Lumen Field in Seattle.
* The preceding Thursday, the Chicago Bears beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 20-19 at the new Soldier Field in Chicago.
* The next night, on ESPN Monday Night Football, the New Orleans Saints beat the Los Angeles Chargers, 30-27 at the Superdome in New Orleans.
* Pushed back to Tuesday night due to COVID reasons, the Tennessee Titans beat the Buffalo Bills, 42-16 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.
* And the Denver Broncos, the Detroit Lions, the Green Bay Packers and the New England Patriots had a bye week.
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