It Had to Be the Lakers
In the end, the NBA bubble held. A complex of resorts and mini-arenas in Orlando, Florida, somehow kept the coronavirus out of the playoffs, as though it were a member of the New York Knicks. Tonight, the curtain fell on the whole affair after the Los Angeles Lakers dominated the Miami Heat to close out their 17th championship, tying the Boston Celtics for the most in NBA history. Still smarting from their loss in Friday night’s Game 5 thriller, the Lakers swarmed and bullied the Heat, building a big lead early, which they held until the final buzzer of the league’s most bizarre season.
The trophy presentation was thick with 2020 surrealism. The arena was nearly empty, apart from the pixelated spectators, glitching away in a digital grandstand. Masked reporters interviewed the new champs from a. Like the social-justice slogans that adorned players’ jerseys, the logo served as a reminder that no amount of money—the bubble reportedly cost more than $150 million to operate—could seal the NBA off from America’s raging cultural currents. Indeed, many of them were at work in the Lakers’ triumph.
