Hello and welcome to Mind of Myka.

Today is Chapter 5 of Inside the NBA bubble, the

definitive oral history of what happened inside the bubble it's written by Taylor Rooks as basketball tips off.

We've gone through chapters one, two, three, and four, it's time for Chapter five.

Here's your daily reminder to subscribe to Mike as read the week the newsletter.

I think you'll enjoy it.

Of course, check out too much depth and backdoor cover as well. We appreciate your patronage this year.

Chapter 5, the right space at the right time.

By the end of August, basketball had resumed and continued at a high level, and a few

breakout stars were playing out of their minds, including Jamal Murray, who competed in a

custom pair of Adidas sneakers, painted with the faces of George Floyd

and Brianna Taylor that he wore into the ground.

I think the bubble just showed who the real hoopers were said Murray.

But I was just beginning to feel a sense of exhaustion creep in.

Guys seemed fatigued. Fewer players lingered in the common areas after practices or games.

It was a lot tougher than I thought it would be, said Doc Rivers of his time inside.

Docs clippers came into the post season with lofty aspirations and it seemed like a foregone conclusion that they would get a groundbreaking LA versus L.A. Western Conference finals.

But the bubble is not kind of the Clippers and Paul George in particular was heavily criticized for his playoff struggles.

A press conference following a win over the Mavericks provided a little clarity.

George said he was feeling anxiety and a little bit of depression from being locked in here.

It was notable because it was the first time any of us had witnessed George be vulnerable. P.G. clearly the bubble was bothering him, said Doc Rivers.

And because he's such a quiet guy to begin with, I honestly don't see it until I heard about it and I saw it and then it was real for me. It was up to the players to be there for one another during the finals

...