TAMPA – No one in the Tampa Bay Area was as excited and giddy as I was to see the NBA come through the doors of Amalie Arena on a couple of days ago when the Toronto Raptors played their first “home” game in the Tampa Bay Area. Even though they lost to the Miami Heat, 117-105, it was a springboard to the regular season, which starts on Tuesday night.
Let’s get this out of the way – college basketball is my passion, but the NBA resonates with me on all levels.
Back in my elementary school and high school years, I used to sit up until the wee hours of the morning waiting on those 11:30 p.m. EST tip-offs of playoff games on CBS. I hardly made it through many of them without going to sleep, but I used to wonder what it would be like to have all of the games available all the time, regardless of time zone.
Heck, I just wanted playoff basketball in the prime time without having to sit up that late to watch something on tape delay! Thank you, David Stern, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, ESPN, TBS, TNT and anyone else to whom I should pass out accolades.
I was texting with my best friend from high school (“Doc”) for a while during the game. He was saying something about teams didn’t play defense in the NBA and the games were 5-on-5 fast breaks.
I preceded to tell him how to watch the NBA.
You look at all the matchups and intel on the teams you are watching and yes, they play stringent defense across the boards. No defense has been a wives’ tale for many years and it’s not even close to true.
In addition, as for the 5-on-5 fast breaks, my man “Doc” must still be living in the 1980s when the Denver Nuggets and Doug Moe were fast-breakin’ when they got off the airplane in whatever city they were playing.
Doc doesn’t realize the intricate offensive play as based on these matchups and the fact that most games have far more offensive possessions in the half-court where so much is done off the dribble, through precision passing to free up 3-point shooters and aggression on the offensive glass.
I used the emoji that rolls his eyes and moved on.
Tampa Bay is a legitimate destination for an NBA team. I realize the league wants to resurrect the Seattle Supersonics and I want that to happen as well, but this is a big enough area and it has enough sports fans to find a suitor to share Amalie Arena with the Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning.
I drive up to Orlando and cover Magic games, but it is some 100 miles to the northeast and the rush hour traffic is a nightmare that takes two and a half hours. The ride back is a breezy one hour and 45 minutes when you can roll the windows down and enjoy temperatures in the 70s in January.
I am not sure that those relaxing rides back are happening this year based on the fact that it has already been in the 40s at night and I am spoiled to warm weather. I feel like I am being robbed right now of the endless summer that everyone here talks about.
Miami looks like it will have wheels enough to drive back into the NBA Finals this season once Jimmy Butler gets settled into the line-up. He didn’t play in the last game, but we were introduced to KZ Okpala, who led Miami with 24 points and made six threes.
Okpala was the second round pick of the Heat in 2019 and is exactly why you watch preseason games. I watched him at Stanford, knew who he was, but like so many college players, I lose track of where they are once they leave.
Okpala brought energy and excitement to an Amalie Arena that opened for the first time in nine months as 3,200 people were allowed to watch the game in-person.
Normally, there are enough Canadians who come to the Florida area during the winter to make a difference at the box office and sell lots of tickets. However with travel restrictions by the Canadian government, there could be many fewer people come to Florida from the north this year.
The Canadian government has done a masterful job in handling COVID-19 and lowering the curve nationally and it didn’t want NBA teams coming and going out of Toronto. Plus, the Raptors potentially could be exposed to strains of COVID-19 and bring it back into the country. Canada nixed the spread at such a high level and this type of gamble at this point with vaccines on the horizon would be ridiculous.
Raptors guard Kyle Lowry provided his own energy as he led all scorers with 25 points against Miami. He made six triples as well and he was playing with his usual aggression in diving after lose balls, setting up his teammates and getting back on defense – yes, Doc, defense.
The Heat went on a 12-0 run to start the fourth quarter behind five points from Lewis University product Max Strus as the lead ballooned to 103-83 with 7:22 to play. Strus hit two more threes as Miami led 111-93 with 3:49 to go. He had 11 of his 13 points in the fourth quarter when Miami held Toronto to 29.2 percent from the floor.
For Miami, the play of Okpala and Strus and 15 rebounds from rookie Precious Achiuwa are new facets for coach Eric Spoelstra and his staff to mull over as they fit players into the roster in time for their next game.
For Toronto, first, I am glad the Raptors are in Florida until March 4 and, like the Heat, they come in as a favorite to win the Eastern Conference.
For me, this was cooler than a long drink of water. It quenched my thirst as my last NBA game was the Rockets at the Magic last December when James Harden went off for 54 points.
For Tampa Bay, let’s get on the short list to bring NBA basketball to The Bay!
