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Dwight Howard was one of the first people to truly try to embrace everything that was happening for the players in the NBA bubble. Remember the video when he was at the “pool party” the NBA first put on when players arrived inside the bubble and quarantine was over?
Dwight was the only person there for the party.
https://twitter.com/NBABubbleLife/status/1282145382068187138?s=20
Well, that was two months ago. And now, Dwight Howard is admitting that it’s tough to be in the bubble right now.
“There’s really nothing to do, if I can be honest with you, there’s nowhere to go, there’s no way to release anything,” Howard told reporters Wednesday. “Any feeling that you might have, it’s just like we’re stuck.”
Howard admits it’s gotten a bit easier now that he has his son in there with him, but still noted “it is extremely difficult, being in a location I can’t get out, can’t see family, friends. You just in the hotel. So that is very difficult, seeing the same walls every day. But at the end of the day … can’t allow it to really affect us too much, but it is extremely difficult.”
Howard is far from the only player to admit the bubble environment is weighing on him. Before being ousted by the Denver Nuggets, Paul George admitted he was in a dark place mentally right before the playoffs started.
Denver Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray commented on PG’s feelings and could relate.
“Paul George had said something about depression, about stress in the bubble, and it’s real. … [The mental health struggle] is a real thing, and I could see it. There’s times when you’re like, ‘Man, I feel like I’m in jail sometimes.’ But you go back, play basketball, have a good [practice], talk to your guys—and they’re like brothers to me—so it all helps and it all works out.”
Multi-millionaire athletes with enough money to have the world at their hands struggling to adapt to this environment shouldn’t really be surprising. I broke my foot last year and was basically confined to my bed for 6 weeks. I had internet, phone, video games, TV, Netflix, and just about any other service you could ask for, and was still miserable.
So to combat a bit of the mundanities, the league decided to allow players to bring a limited amount of family on campus at the start of the second round. The coaches and team staff members were not allowed to bring their families, but policy was changed during the second round of the playoffs.
Now, the conference finals are underway, Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals takes place tonight as the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics square off. The Western Conference Finals begins tomorrow as the Los Angeles Lakers take on the Denver Nuggets.
