Sixers' Doc Rivers hoping COVID-19 surge won't result in return to NBA restrictions

PHILADELPHIA — The NBA shut down play in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic late in the 2019-20 season before eventually crowning a champion in the Orlando bubble.

Teams played the bulk of last year in arenas with limited or no fans before allowing more folks in late in the season and during the playoffs.

The players, fans and league are thrilled to be back at full capacity in 2021-22, but the spike in COVID cases among those both vaccinated and unvaccinated since the emergence of the Omicron variant has 76ers coach Doc Rivers wondering if changes could be coming soon.

"I'm just worried in general," said Rivers prior to Wednesday night's 101-96 home loss to the undermanned Miami Heat. "I see football and hockey and us – there's just a lot of it right now. There's a lot of it nationwide, outside of sports as well."

The Washington Football Team was hit hard, as evidenced by the list of 21 players on its COVID list Thursday afternoon, with the Cleveland Browns right behindat 20. Washington, which is scheduled to visit the Eagles on Sunday, is one of seven NFL clubs subject to enhanced protocols.

The Bulls' NBA games against the Pistons (Tuesday) and Raptors (Thursday) were postponed when 10 Chicago players entered the league's health and safety protocols over the span of 13 day, leaving them without the required minimum of eight.

The Raptors announced Wednesday that they're reducing capacity for home games by 50 percent beginning Saturday and that unvaccinated players will no longer be permitted to play in Canada at the start of 2022.

The Kings canceled Thursday's practice and closed their training facility due to a COVID outbreak, according to ESPN. Sacramento's game Friday vs. the Grizzlies apparently could be in jeopardy.

The Nets nearly had to postpone Tuesday's contest with the Raptors because they were missing nine players, seven of whom were in the protocols, but Kevin Durant allowed the game to go on as he went from questionable with a sore ankle to leading Brooklyn to an overtime victory with 34 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists. The Sixers visited the Nets on Thursday evening.

In college basketball, Duke and UCLA had men's games postponed or canceled this week due to COVID concerns, as did the Kentucky and North Carolina women.

The NHL's Calgary Flames are in the midst of a stretch with at least four postponed games thanks to 18 players sidelined by COVID protocols.

And on it goes.

Asked how he thinks the NBA can address the situation, Rivers responded, "I don't know, man. I really don't. I got a feeling we may go back to some of the stuff we did last year (such as additional testing), which was clearly no fun. But we got through the season, so I guess if that's what we have to do, we have to do."

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The Sixers dealt with four players, including star center Joel Embiid and starting forward Tobias Harris, testing positive at the same time earlier this season and had a 2-7 record in the games Embiid missed, taking them from 8-2 to 10-9. The only Sixer sidelined because of health and safety protocols at the moment is backup forward Georges Niang.

Harris sat out six games from Nov. 1-9 and said he is still experiencing aftereffects, such as feeling like he has a cold every day and occasional chest pains.

"A large percentage of our league is vaccinated and an even larger percentage in the coming days and weeks is going to have a booster," Harris said. "I think that we're proactive enough to do the things that keep us safe. With that being said, you can still catch COVID and have symptoms."

Harris is "praying all the guys stay safe and no one has any extreme symptoms and whatnot. It's spreading for sure."

Many of the professional athletes in the protocols have been vaccinated. What could be happening in some cases is the players received the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which didn't turn out to provide as much protection as the multi-shot Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Several weeks ago, Rivers said he planned to push for his Sixers to get a booster shot for increased protection, which he said has "been very successful, overall, with us."

"But nationwide, we have to get the vaccination first," Rivers said. "It's amazing. It's clear that it's going to keep spreading until we do that. I don't know what we're going to do."

Tom Moore: tmoore@couriertimes; @TomMoorePhilly

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Sixers' Doc Rivers hoping COVID-19 surge won't result in NBA restrictions