ORLANDO • The video boards flashed brilliant colors. The PA announcer’s voice boomed over the loudspeaker. But there was no applause as the home team trotted onto the court and into layup lines on Thursday night. It felt unnatural—all at once too surreal and too serene—to Mike Conley.
Fifteen minutes later, at center court, Conley started to feel normal again.
“Once the ball was tipped off, I think, this is basketball,” the Utah Jazz guard said.
Finishing out the 2019-20 season inside the bubble of the NBA’s campus in Florida will require all sorts of adjustments.