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NETS TO RESUME PLAY JULY 31 VS. MAGIC IN ‘BUBBLE’

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Brooklyn Nets v Los Angeles Lakers Photo by Chris Elise/NBAE via Getty Images

The NBA is back ... or close ... and so are the Nets. On Friday night, the league released the schedule for the “seeding games,” the eight games each team will have to play before the playoffs.

The Nets re-open at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, July 31, the second day of the NBA’s return-to-play, vs. the Magic. The games will take place at three arenas at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports on the Walt Disney World campus. No fans permitted.

The 30-34 Nets will resume play a half game ahead of the Magic in the seventh seed. Brooklyn wants to avoid the play-in tournament. Winning five of the eight games would ensure the Nets don’t have to play in the tournament.

Under the complicated return-to-play, here’s how that will work...

The return-to-play plan will feature the 16 teams currently slated to make the 2020 playoffs as well as the six teams that are within six games of the No. 8 seed in their respective conference. The NBA will reportedly hold eight regular-season games before the potential play-in tournament for the No. 8 seed.

There is no guarantee of a play-in tournament for the No. 8 seed. If the top seven seeds in each conference will be guaranteed admission to the playoffs, as will the No. 8 seed if the team is more than four games ahead of the No. 9 seed in its conference. If the No. 9 seed is within four games of the No. 8 spot, a play-in tournament will be held between the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds.

The No. 8 seed will have to be defeated twice by the No. 9 seed in order to give up its playoff spot. The No. 9 seed will be eliminated with a single loss to the No. 8 seed.

The Nets, like all 22 teams in the bubble, will play one back-to-back, Tuesday, August 4 vs. Milwaukee, and Wednesday, August 5, vs. Boston. However, the August 4 is an early afternoon game and August 5 is a late night game.

YES will televise the seeding games, according to the Nets. In addition, the August 4 game vs. Milwaukee and the August 9 game vs. the L.A. Clippers will be televised on NBA TV. The August 5 game vs. Boston will be on ESPN. One question: with baseball returning July 23 or 24 in New York, will there be schedule conflicts on YES?

The overall schedule will be intense...

The Nets will work out at HSS Training Center this week and travel via charter to Orlando on July 7. They will stay at Walt Disney World’s Grand Floridian Resort. As part of the NBA - NBPA agreement, only 35 players, coaches and staff will be permitted in the Bubble. That’s about 20 fewer than normal.

On Friday, the league and the union announced that, out of 302 players tested by their teams on Tuesday, 16 were positive for the coronavirus.

“My ultimate conclusion is that we can’t outrun the virus, and that this is what we’re going to be living with for the foreseeable future, which is why we designed the campus the way we did,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said on a media conference call. “While it’s not impermeable, we are in essence protected from cases around us — at least that’s the model. For those reasons, we’re still very comfortable being in Orlando.”

None of the 16 are “seriously” ill, Silver said.

The commissioner admitted the rise of coronavirus infections in Florida is worrisome. In fact, STAT News, the respected medical news website, in a county-by-county analysis of preparedness ranked Orange County, home “extremely low” and estimated that infections won’t peak until September 30. By comparison, Brooklyn peaked on April 8.

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