NBA stars who boosted their reputation in the 2020 playoffs

After what seemed like an eternity, the 2019-2020 NBA season is finally in the history books.

In a world plagued by fear and uncertainty due to the pandemic, the league powered through for its season’s resumption, and created a sealed environment system that will certainly be extensively studied in case the need for it arises again.

As the NBA was hailed for its largely successful bubble, some of its stars also gained a reputation boost while playing inside it after performing well beyond expectations.

Whether or not they will perform the same once fans get back in the stands is as of right now irrelevant. What matters is that these stars have certainly improved their stock. 

Jimmy Butler

Miami is known in the basketball world for two things, its beautiful beach weather, and its solid Heat team.

And when Jimmy Butler decided that he wants to settle into his fourth team in 3 years, the critics came out in droves, and dismissed the move as a vacation trip rather than a real attempt to inch closer to an NBA title.

More than a year and an unlikely finals trip later, and the critics’ voices have been unanimously buried underneath the warm sands of South Beach.

The 31-year-old Butler took a 5th-seeded team all the way to the top of the Eastern Conference, dismantling the favored Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics along the way, and in stunningly quick fashion too.

Even more impressively, the Heat fought harder against even more odds versus the Los Angeles Lakers despite losing team stars Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic to injuries.

Before going down for good in Game 6, Butler managed to carry the team to two wins through two of the most incredible individual performances in recent memory.

Yes, Miami is a great vacation destination, but Butler went there to go against the tide, not ride along with it.

Erik Spoelstra and Mike Malone

Not only players deserve to be labeled as stars.

In this year’s playoffs, both the Heat’s Erik Spoelstra and the Denver Nuggets’ Mike Malone proved that they are two of the best coaches in the sport right now.

While the Fil-Am Spoelstra was already known to be a good coach, he finally proved to everyone that he can get to the top without his former championship-winning Big 3 of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh.

His timely defensive game plan switches and balanced offensive assignments proved crucial for a team that lacked a true superstar prior to Butler’s finals explosion.

The same goes for Malone, who steered the Nuggets to perhaps the most improbable 14-game stretch in playoff history.

Here was a team that was one loss away from being ousted in both the first and second rounds, and yet were somehow able to survive both times.

Most notably in the second round, his team was down double-digits in the second half against the championship favorite Los Angeles Clippers in Games 5, 6, and 7.

But somehow, he kept his team locked in to survive the series, and slapped a massively embarrassing stain on a Clippers team bannered by 2019 Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard and 2018 MVP finalist Paul George.

Jamal Murray

Malone and All-NBA big man Nikola Jokic performed exceptionally in the Nuggets’ improbable run, but young guard Jamal Murray took the cake for the most impressive rise the team had in the bubble.

After seeing minimal improvement from his last regular season due to untimely bouts with injuries, the 22-year-old Murray finally broke out in the bubble, just when his team needed him to.

After averaging 18.5 points, 4.8 assists, 46% shooting, and 35% from downtown in the regular season, Murray boosted his norms to 26.5 points, 6.6 dimes, 51% shooting, and 45% from three in his 19-game playoff run.

This included a legendary shootout against Utah’s All-Star Donovan Mitchell in the first round where Murray dropped two 50-point games and a 42-point outing in a three-game span.

Last year, it was an easy decision to leave out Murray in consideration for the All-Star team. He just wasn’t good enough. That perception has certainly changed by now.

Dwight Howard and Rajon Rondo

Prior to this season, Dwight Howard and Rajon Rondo could be perfectly lumped together in a category that goes like this: “washed-up and unwanted team cancers on their way out of the league.”

Prior to joining LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, these two former stars were jumping around from team to team for most of the last decade, and were never able to settle into a culture that truly wanted them around for the long haul.

But this year, they proved that even the biggest of egos can indeed be checked when backed up against a wall they can no longer tear down on their own.

With LeBron James and Anthony Davis leading the way, Howard and Rondo became the heart and soul of the Lakers’ bench mob, and didn’t complain no matter how few minutes nor touches they got.

Chris Paul

When Chris Paul was traded from the Houston Rockets to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Russell Westbrook, the internet showed no mercy from the get-go.

TV analysts predicted everything negative, from predicting that Paul would ask for another trade to a winning team, to giving the Thunder a 0.2% chance of even making the playoffs.

Fast forward to the bubble, and lo and behold, the “Point God” wrapped up one of his most efficient and healthy seasons to date, and the supposedly rebuilding Thunder were right behind the Rockets in the playoff standings.

Along with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Dennis Schroder, and Danilo Gallinari – certainly not a group of household names – Paul actually forced a do-or-die Game 7 in the first round against his former team before finally going down swinging at the very end.

Not only did the 35-year-old Paul prove that his near-40 million dollar a year contract was not as bad as it seemed to be, but he also showed that he can still stay healthy and just basically be a winner through and through.

Love him or hate him, CP3 is here to stay. – Rappler.com