Nearly two-and-a-half years ago, LeBron James gave an interview in which he declared that he had won “two of the hardest championships in NBA history.” The first example he gave — overcoming a 3-1 deficit to beat the 73-win Golden State Warriors in 2016 —didn’t draw much pushback.
But James’ second example — a 4-2 win over the Miami Heat in the NBA’s bubble in 2020 — raised more than a few eyebrows.
“If you were not in the bubble, you don’t quite understand it,” James said. “You will never, ever understand how hard it was to win that championship, to be able to motivate yourself to be out of — this is literally out of your whole comfort zone. No family. I didn’t see my family for eight-and-a-half weeks.”
For a certain section of NBA fans, James’ explanation was eye-roll-worthy. Not long after James and the Lakers won the championship amid the pandemic in 2020, a debate emerged about whether the title came with an asterisk because of the unique circumstances — with no fans and no travel — surrounding the NBA’s bubble setup near Orlando. The narrative even caught on with former players like Charles Barkley and Reggie Miller. “That don’t count,” Barkley said in 2021, calling the Lakers and Heat “bubble gangsters.”
These days, that argument hasn’t necessarily aged well. This year’s conference finals feature rematches in the East and the West between the four teams who were the final four remaining in the 2020 bubble: The Lakers will meet the Denver Nuggets (the series begins Tuesday), while the Boston Celtics will again face off against the Miami Heat.
Rosters, of course, are different from three years ago. But all four teams are still built around the same stars: The Lakers have James and Anthony Davis, the Nuggets have Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, the Celtics have Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown and the Heat have Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo.
And in the NBA, more often than not, star talent wins out.
“‘BUT THE BUBBLE DIDN’T COUNT !’” Chicago Bulls guard Alex Caruso, who won a title with the Lakers in 2020, tweeted Sunday. He included two crying emojis to get his sarcastic point across.
To be clear, there are key differences between now and then. Since the bubble, for instance, Jokic has gotten even better to become a two-time MVP. The Celtics made the finals a year ago by topping the Heat. To get to this point again, the Lakers had to retool their roster at the trade deadline — they added key pieces like point guard D’Angelo Russell and Jarred Vanderbilt en route to having the league’s best, post-deadline record.
But there are enough similarities that it may be time for skeptics to retire the idea that the bubble performances were flukes. Just look at Butler. The Miami Heat guard has again willed his team farther than anyone expected. In the 2020 finals, Butler averaged 26.2 points, 8.3 rebounds and 9.8 assists per game. And in these playoffs, Butler has averaged 31.1 points per game to help the eighth-seeded Heat reach the Eastern Conference finals.
Denver’s Murray is another top player recapturing his bubble success. Nicknamed “Bubble Murray” because of his outstanding playoff run in 2020, Murray has had at least 30 points in four of his 11 games. Murray, who missed the 2021 and 2022 postseasons because of a torn ACL, actually has more 40-point games in the playoffs than he does in the regular season.
“I got mixed feelings,” Murray told ESPN when asked about the moniker, “Bubble Murray.” “Because people only refer to me as like that’s a different person. I don’t like to refer to that time as a different person. That’s me two years ago. And I feel like I’m better now.”
Make no mistake, there are factors at play this year that were not part of the bubble finals. For one, fans — thousands of them — will be able to attend these games. Perhaps home-court advantage will make a difference for a team like the Nuggets, the Western Conference No.1 seed who went 34-7 and haven’t lost a game at Ball Arena this postseason.
Skeptics have been quick to discount the bubble year, but maybe, considering this season’s final four, it’s time to acknowledge that James has a point.
Almost three years later, the four survivors from the bubble meet again. That’s no coincidence.
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
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