The NBA comes back Wednesday with a very different look.
The league's marketing motto for the restart of the season at Walt Disney World is "Whole New Game," and in many respects, that's very true. The arenas that will be used for the exhibitions, the seeding games that start July 30 and then the playoffs that are scheduled for mid-August through mid-October set up much differently than usual -- all with safety during a pandemic very much in mind.
The area where the official scorers, timers and statisticians sit is enclosed by plexiglass, with social distancing in that makeshift room as well. Broadcasters, who are courtside in normal circumstances, will be higher up and several feet further back from the playing surface. Even the setup for replay reviews will be different -- that monitor is in the corner of the arena, instead of being kept at the scorer's table and utilized when needed.
They won't even have a game feel: No national anthems will be played, no starter introductions will take place, warmups might not even happen like usual and some real-game elements might get tested out to see what works. The first scrimmages for each team will also have 10-minute quarters, as opposed to the usual 12.
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