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The NBA Season and Finals

The 2020 NBA Finals is the championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 2019–20 season and conclusion of the season's playoffs. In this series there is best-of-seven playoff series, the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Eastern Conference champions Miami Heat, 4–2, winning their first NBA championship in ten years. It is the franchise's 17th title, tying the Boston Celtics for the most in the league's history. The Lakers' LeBron James was named the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player in spectacular fashion and awarded MVP for the fourth time in his career. He became the first player in league history to be named Finals MVP for three different franchises.

The Lakers were the No. 1 seed in the West meaning they had the most wins in the league, while the Heat were No. 5 in the East, notable as it became the third-lowest seed to advance to the Finals. This was the first NBA Finals matchup between the two teams, and the first time that Finals participants had both missed the playoffs in the previous season. James had previously played with Miami under Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra, winning back-to-back NBA titles in 2012 and 2013 in four consecutive Finals appearances from 2011 to 2014, while Heat president Pat Riley was head coach of the "Showtime"-era Lakers from 1981 to 1990 leading them to four NBA titles from seven Finals appearances. For the first time in six seasons, the Golden State Warriors were not in the Finals.

The Finals were originally scheduled to begin on June 4 and end on June 24, but the season was suspended on March 11 due to the COVID-19 pandemic which disrupted the fixtures. The NBA and its players later approved a plan to restart the season in late July, setting up the NBA Bubble at Walt Disney World to protect teams from the virus. The games were played behind closed doors in the Bubble at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Bay Lake, Florida, with the Finals being played from September 30 through October 11.

Main articles: Suspension of the 2019–20 NBA season and 2020 NBA Bubble

On March 11, 2020, the NBA announced the suspension of the 2019–20 season following a report that Utah Jazz centre Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19 just hours before the Jazz road game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. There was a plan to save the season and under this plan, thirteen Western Conference teams and nine Eastern Conference teams, which include all clubs within six games of a playoff spot, played eight regular season seeding games. A possible play-in tournament for the eighth seed in each conference would then be held if the ninth seed finished the regular season within four games of the eighth seed. This play-in tournament was used in the Western conference only. The 2020 NBA playoffs were then played as a conventional post-season tournament.

References

1. McMenamin, Dave (October 11, 2020). "Los Angeles Lakers lean on defense in dominant Game 6 win vs. Miami Heat, claim first NBA title in a decade". ESPN.com. Retrieved October 12, 2020.

https://www.nba.com/article/2020/09/27/heat-advance-nba-finals-stats NBA.com. September 28, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.

 2.    Call, Tommy III (October 4, 2020) https://warriorswire.usatoday.com/gallery/nba-finals-highlighting-klay-thompsons-top-career- performances-vs-miami-heat/. USA Today. Retrieved October 7, 2020.

  3. https://pr.nba.com/nba-to-suspend-season-following-tonights-games/ (Press release). National Basketball Association. March 11, 2020. Retrieved March 12, 2020.

   4.  Wojnarowski, Adrian (June 4, 2020). https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29267294/source-nba-approves-plan-return-orlando  ESPN.com. Retrieved July 25, 2020.

   5. https://www.nba.com/article/2020/06/05/nbpa-approves-further-negotiations-season-restart NBA.com. June 5, 2020. Retrieved August 2, 2020.

   6. Hladik, Matt (February 25, 2020). https://thespun.com/nba/nba-finals-starting-date-announced-june-4. The Spun. Retrieved October 7, 2020

   7. https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28887560/nba-suspends-season-further-notice-player-tests-positive-coronavirus. ESPN.com. ESPN News Services. March 11, 2020. Retrieved July 25,2020.

    8. https://www.wired.com/2012/12/the-decades-that-invented-the-future-part-8-1981-1990/ . 

    9. Suspension of the 2019–20 NBA season. 

    10. https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/sports/2020/07/09/nba-bubble-takes-shape-disney-world/5387760002/. 

    11. COVID-19 pandemic .