The NBA Playoffs kicked off on Monday in Orlando with a four-game slate, and they didn’t waste anytime at all before we had our first fireworks of the opening round, with Donovan Mitchell putting on a historic 57-point performance, despite Utah dropping Game 1 to the Nuggets.
The Jazz, of course, are without two key players in this series, with Bojan Bogdonavic out for the season and Mike Conley exiting the bubble over the weekend for the birth of his son, Elijah. Initial reports indicated that Conley would likely miss much of their first-round series against Denver having left the Bubble and needing to quarantine upon return.
But Utah got some promising news on Tuesday. According to the latest reports, Conley returned to Orlando on Monday night, and the Jazz are hoping to have him back in the lineup for Game 3 on Friday, rather than having to wait to Game 4 on Sunday.
Via Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
The Jazz confirmed that Conley had returned to campus on Tuesday afternoon. There’s an expectation that he could be able to pass four coronavirus tests in the window prior to the 4 p.m. ET Game 3 in the first-round Western Conference playoff series, sources said.
The NBA researches a player’s contacts and possible exposure while outside the bubble, but Conley’s exit on Sunday morning to join his wife in a Columbus, Ohio, hospital for the birth of their son Elijah Michael likely makes his case stronger for the shorter four-day quarantine period.
Conley, who had struggled to find his rhythm in Utah before the hiatus, has had something of a resurgence since the eight seeding games started, averaging 18 points per game and five assists. His return to the lineup would alleviate some of the immense offensive pressure facing Donovan Mitchell, who showed exactly how much he has to do in Game 1.