On Saturday, the NBA has announced All-Bubble Awards 2020. Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard has been awarded the Player of the Speeding Games, thus earning de facto MVP honors for the league’s restart.
Lillard has averaged 37.6 PPG and 9.6 APG on .497/.436/.888 shooting in eight seeding games. The player led his team to a 6-2 record. As a result, the Blazers surpassed Grizzlies to sit at No. 8 seed in the West. Portland has the chance to make a spot in the conference’s final playoff. They will need to defeat Memphis today or tomorrow.
Lillard was unanimously selected for the bubble’s MVP award. There were a total of 22 media voters. Devin Booker stood second with 19 votes. Pacer’s TJ Warren got two while Mavericks’ Luka Doncic earned the other one. The third place was awarded to Booker, Warren, Doncic, James Harden (Rockets), and Glannis Antetokunmpo (Bucks).
In the meantime, with today’s voting results, Suns head coach Monty Williams was awarded the Coach of the Seeding Games. It wasn’t a surprise for us as, under his leadership, Phoenix set 8-0 record in summer 2020. However, the Suns failed to make a place for themselves in the tournament. But, they were the only club who won all the seeding games and didn’t lose a single game. Initially, they were ranked 21st of all 22 teams, which were invited to Orlando.
Williams was almost unanimously chosen. Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts got one first-place vote but finished second overall in voting. Other top vote-getters were Nets coach Jacque Vaughn and Raptors coach Nick Nurse.
Tim Reynolds revealed the entire list of awards via his tweet.
As per the NBA, the All-Seeding Games First and Second Teams are:
First Team:
- Damian Lillard (Trail Blazers)
- Devin Booker (Suns)
- Luka Doncic (Mavericks)
- James Harden (Rockets)
- T.J. Warren (Pacers)
Second Team:
- Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks)
- Kawhi Leonard (Clippers)
- Kristaps Porzingis (Mavericks)
- Caris LeVert (Nets)
- Michael Porter Jr. (Nuggets)
Lillard, Booker, and Doncic were unanimously selected for the First Team. Harden and Warren received 18 of 22 First Team votes while Antetokounmpo successfully garnered the other eight First Team votes.
On a bigger scale, the All-Bubble awards don’t mean much, but it feels good to see the NBA recognizing these talents.
