Mannix: NBA won't adjust plan after Celtics-Heat postponed originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Tuesday's Boston Celtics-Chicago Bulls game has been postponed according to the NBA's health and safety protocols.
The decision was announced shortly before 1 p.m. Monday by the league. Monday night's New Orleans Pelicans-Dallas Mavericks game has also been postponed.
Sunday night's Boston Celtics-Miami Heat matchup was previously postponed after a Miami player turned in an inconclusive COVID-19 test and the team didn't have the minimum of eight players available due to contact tracing. If the game had gone on as scheduled, the Celtics would have been forced to play with only eight players due to health and safety protocols.
On Saturday, the Philadelphia 76ers played vs. the Denver Nuggets with only eight players available.
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The NBA said Sunday it had no plans to put the season on pause, but announced Monday that it will be meeting with the NBA Players Association to discuss modifying the league's health and safety protocols.
Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated explained on "Celtics Pregame Live" where the NBA stands on the matter as of now.
"Well there's certainly frustration on the league part but it's expected frustration," Mannix said. "They anticipated having these types of problems, especially in the month of January when you're getting the full brunt of the post-holiday season and everything that comes along with it. The natural question is, will there be any kind of stoppage? Will the NBA consider a bubble? And at this point, I'm told that that's a firm no. That the NBA is going to continue to push on.
"Remember, there's only about four or five teams in the league that are dealing with an outbreak. There's more than half the league that hasn't really dealt with much of anything, if at all, when it comes to COVID issues. So until this thing becomes more prevalent across the league, the NBA I believe is going to continue to push through. But I can tell you that among the teams that are being impacted by this, the chorus is getting louder for some kind of stoppage be it a week or 10 days to try to get this pandemic within the league under control."
