#NBA playoffs 2020: Biggest storylines taking over the bubble

The NBA’s bubble playoffs begin Monday — 16 Disney World survivors starting a journey that will last into mid-October for some.

Four first-rounders are on tap Monday — late-summer matinee basketball at the Magic Kingdom starting at 1:30 p.m. and lasting until midnight.

Yes, it’s an ESPN Christmas in the dog days of August.

Here are 10 storylines from the imperfect bubble playoffs.

Can LeBron lead a third team to a championship and win it for Kobe?

The “Last Dance’’ documentary and Michael Jordan dominated the spring. Now LeBron James gets the chance to move up on Jordan as “The GOAT.’’ Winning a title with a third team — the Lakers — is an achievement Jordan never could have dreamed about. And for the 35-year-old James — with Anthony Davis riding shotgun — to lift the No. 1-seeded Lakers to the title the year of Kobe Bryant’s death would be epic. Jordan retired from the Bulls for the second time at 35.

James’ speech at the Bryant memorial has not been forgotten.

“I want to continue along with my teammates, to continue his legacy, not only for this year, but for as long as we can play the game of basketball that we love because that’s what Kobe Bryant would want,” James told the Staples Center audience.

It’s kind of early for Boston-Philly. Or is it?

The first-round series between longtime northeast rivals will take place in Florida and be a dogfight. Yes, this might go the distance even if Sixers point guard Ben Simmons is out for the season after undergoing knee surgery last week. Sixers center Joel Embiid will need to be a 30-point monster for No. 6 Philly to stage the upset over No. 3 Boston, drawing double-teams and opening it up for Tobias Harris and Al Horford. Brett Brown’s job could depend on it, though the pandemic-induced economic uncertainty could save him.

This is an intriguing battle of an old-school big team like Philly against the small-ball Celtics, whose young gun Jayson Tatum has looked marvelous. The Celtics look too athletic for the Sixers’ defense to keep in front of them.

What will it mean that Giannis, Bucks got roughed up in the restart?

The bubble loss to the Nets, who were without Caris LeVert, Joe Harris and Jarett Allen along with other no-shows, illustrated the Bucks’ Disney woes, though they rested Giannis Antetokounmpo for the second half.

The league’s hottest team cooled off in Disney with a 3-5 record but finished with a league-best 56-17 clip. The frustration boiled over for Antetokounmpo, the MVP favorite who got suspended for a head-butting incident. The Lopez brothers are manning the defensive interior well, but Milwaukee is allowing a ton of 3-pointers. On the other end, The Greek Freak better shoot respectively from deep or the title drought will extend and his future becomes cast in doubt.

The Bucks’ (1971) dry spell is already longer than the Knicks.

Can Jimmy Butler make good on his Miami title prediction?

The Heat, who missed the playoffs two of the last three seasons, are the little engine that could. Butler’s emergence in his first year in Miami has had a spectacular effect. Butler said last week Miami can win it all. If Butler’s young Minnesota teammates had listened and learned from this winner, Tom Thibodeau would still be Wolves coach/president.

The 4-5 battle against Indiana becomes a simpler task for Miami with the Pacers missing arguably the NBA’s most underrated player in Domantas Sabonis, who is out with a foot injury. Then again, Butler may be the NBA’s most underrated star.

What about the playoff debut of The Luka-Kristaps Show?

Knicks fans will take special notice in No. 7 Dallas facing No. 2 Clippers. And it’s not to watch how ex-Knick Marcus Morris fits in with Los Angeles. The 7-foot-3 Kristaps Porzingis will make his playoff debut after a sensational bubble showing — his best stretch as a Maverick.

Last week, the once-disgruntled Latvian romped for 36 points in 36 minutes (12 of 17 with seven 3-pointers) against the Blazers. But KP6 and superstar Luka Doncic must play off each other to stand a chance against the Clippers.

This is Mavs owner Mark Cuban’s first playoff appearance since 2016. That’s a lot of “Shark Tank” episodes in between. The Dallas Morning News recently published a story on whether Doncic is the greatest 21-year-old in NBA history as Dallas set the league’s all-time record for best offensive rating in a season. Still Doncic/Porzingis must also play winning D for Big D.

Can D’Antoni weather the Westbrook storm?

This might be coach Mike D’Antoni’s swan song as he seeks his first NBA title. He’s a free agent and sources believe GM Daryl Morey will look elsewhere. Now the pioneer of pace-and-space has to enter the series against the Thunder with Russell Westbrook (quadriceps) on the shelf indefinitely.

The Rockets’ whole idea of going center-less with the Clint Capela trade was to highlight Westbrook’s unique triple-double skill set. Houston, we got a problem.

Do Masai Ujiri’s Raptors still have it post-Kawhi?

Knicks owner James Dolan jumped at hiring an agent (Leon Rose) instead of waiting for Ujiri to become a free agent after the 2020-21 season. Ujiri is the best executive in the business, his Raptors still lethal even after losing Leonard and having six of the team’s top seven players miss 11 games or more.

Even without Kawhi Leonard, the foursome of Kyle Lowry-Fred VanVleet-Pascal Siakam-Marc Gasol is battle-tested. The Raptors have a new defensive whiz in another unsung piece, small forward OG Anunoby, who, like Ujiri, is a 2021 free agent.

Will the real Clippers stand up?

Like LeBron, Leonard also is trying to win a title with his third team after hoisting the trophy with San Antonio and Toronto. The Leonard-Paul George Clippers have experienced a bumpy journey with the mysterious disappearance of late-arriving Montrezl Harrell, who hasn’t played a game, and injuries to Landry Shamet and Patrick Beverley. They all should be ready for Game 1.

Sixth Man sniper Lou Williams is also over his trip to a strip club for chicken wings that banished him to quarantine.

With the amazing Lillard and a reborn Melo, will Portland’s vault to the eighth seed scare the Lakers?

Charles Barkley keeps predicting the Blazers will beat the Lakers even if they don’t play any defense. Barkley clearly is trying to trump up flagging TNT ratings. The Blazers captured the play-in game over Memphis to earn the right to play James, Carmelo Anthony’s buddy.

Damian Lillard has been scary great with games of 51, 61 and 42 entering Saturday’s play-in game triumph over Memphis. Lillard finished the season at 40.1 percent from 3-point range on 10.1 3-point attempts per game. He’s the second player in league history to post that high an efficiency. A slimmed-down Anthony mostly has been a force. He might have been the goat against the Nets on Friday if Caris LeVert sank that last-second shot, but bounced back to drill a game-sealing 3-pointer to oust Memphis on Saturday.

And for the first-ever bubble playoff game?

An intriguing 3-6 matchup, the Jazz/Nuggets tip it off at 1:30 p.m. The Jazz will try to make up for the loss of 20 points a game from Bojan Bogdanovic, who is out with a wrist injury, and point guard Mike Conley, who is out at least two games after leaving the bubble for the birth of his child. At least Utah avoided facing Houston for a third straight playoff.

Knicks fans should be fixed on how Donovan Mitchell-Rudy Gobert get along. If the Jazz crumble, Mitchell, the Westchester product, could become one of those “disgruntled stars’’ demanding a trade. Mitchell is a former Leon Rose client.

There also could be pain watching Michael Porter Jr.’s rise for Denver — the exciting prospect the Knicks passed on for Kevin Knox in 2018 because of a sketchy medical report on his back.