密尔沃基雄鹿队和洛杉矶湖人队几乎保证了自己是季后赛的前两名种子，当NBA重新开始比赛时，他们将面临一个平衡的局面。
当其他球队在佛罗里达州打最后八场常规赛时，他们将争夺季后赛席位或季后赛种子，湖人和雄鹿将在4个多月的休战期后寻求摆脱铁锈，同时保持健康。
“至少从一个球员的角度来看，你可以期待我们在这场比赛中尽我们所能和尽我们所能的发挥最好，”雄鹿前锋凯里斯·米德尔顿说。“这是我们唯一能控制的，真的。”
在冠状病毒大流行的情况下，作为安全防范措施，联盟将在常规赛剩余时间和整个季后赛中出战，拥有一个头号种子可能不会像往常那么重要。但是雄鹿队和湖人队事实上已经确信他们在各自的会议上都是头号种子。
密尔沃基以53胜12负的战绩获得NBA最佳战绩，而湖人则以49胜14负的战绩位居第二，当时大流行导致了3月中旬的停赛。
湖人将带着一个神奇的数字3来到迪斯尼世界，争夺西部第一种子。如果他们在7月30日的第二场比赛中击败洛杉矶快船队，那么这个数字在重新开赛之夜可能会缩减到一个。
密尔沃基东部一号种子的神奇数字是2。无论发生什么事，雄鹿队都不能跌破东部第二的位置，他们最早可以在8月2日锁定他们半区的榜首位置。
在这一点上，争夺NBA最佳总战绩的比赛仍有疑问。但是在季后赛没有主场优势的情况下，如果冠军系列赛是雄鹿湖人队的对决，那么剩下的唯一决定就是哪支球队有把握在NBA总决赛的第一场比赛中穿着白色队服。
湖人主教练福格尔说：“如果这是常规赛，或者这是常规赛的最后8场比赛，我们会争胜。”。“你的习惯就是这样养成的。每次我们发言，我们都会出去争取赢一场比赛。”
当球队被锁定在一个特定的季后赛种子时，他们通常会在常规赛的最后几场比赛中让关键球员休息，以避免受伤的风险。在如此长时间的停摆之后，本赛季不一定会出现这种情况。
米德尔顿星期五说，在流感大流行期间，他“可能有两三个月不能碰篮球”。雄鹿后卫邓特·迪维森佐（Donte DiVincenzo）说，他在大部分间歇期无法使用雄鹿的训练设施，这让他专注于训练，他说“这让我又回到了小时候，在里面运球，在人行道上做那些小动作等等。”
这意味着，即使是那些没有太大利害关系的球队，也可能需要在过去的8场常规赛中努力找回过去几个月失去的势头。
“我不希望第一场、第二场或第三场比赛，伙计们都会100%，”雄鹿前锋、现任MVP吉安尼斯安特托孔波说。“男人们会生疏的。我们会看到很多球，人们把球扔进看台，失误。你会看到的。但我认为，随着我们的进步，球员们越来越适应，篮球水平每场比赛都会越来越好。”
早期的头号种子争夺战也可能让湖人前锋詹姆斯打破常规。通常，一旦詹姆斯的球队被锁定在季后赛种子，他就会关闭它，开始为季后赛做准备。但是由于这次裁员，可以说詹姆斯可能想在湖人拿下头号位置后多打一场比赛。
原标题：
With top seeds nearly locked up Lakers, Bucks look to rediscover rhythm
原文：
MILWAUKEE (AP) â The Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers have all but guaranteed themselves the top two playoff seeds and face a balancing act when the NBA returns to action.
While other teams will be fighting for a postseason berth or playoff seedings when they play the final eight regular season games in Florida, the Lakers and Bucks will be looking to shake off the rust after a 4 +-month hiatus wile also staying healthy.
“At least from a player’s aspect, you can expect us to go out there and play as best as we can and as hard as we can during this situation,” Bucks forward Khris Middleton said. “That’s the only thing we can control, really.”
With the league playing the remainder of the regular season and the entire playoffs at Walt Disney World as a safety precaution amid the coronavirus pandemic, owning a No. 1 seed may not matter as much as usual. But the Bucks and Lakers are virtually assured of having the top seeds in their respective conferences regardless.
Milwaukee owned the NBA’s best record at 53-12 and the Lakers were next at 49-14 when the pandemic caused a suspension of play in mid-March.
The Lakers will arrive at Disney World with a magic number of three in the race for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. That number could get trimmed to one on re-opening night if they beat the Los Angeles Clippers in the second game of the July 30 doubleheader.
Milwaukee’s magic number for the East’s No. 1 seed is two. The Bucks can’t drop below the No. 2 spot in the East, no matter what happens, and they could lock up the top spot on their half of the bracket as early as Aug. 2.
The race for the NBA’s best overall record still could be in doubt at that point. But with no home-court advantage to play for in these playoffs, the only thing left to decide would be which team is assured of wearing white uniforms for Game 1 of the NBA Finals if the title series is a Bucks-Lakers matchup.
“Like we always would if this were the regular season or if these were the last eight games of the regular season, we would compete to win,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. “That’s how your habits are built the best. Every time we take the floor, we’re going to go out there and try to win a game.”
When teams are locked into a particular playoff seed, they often spend the final few games of the regular season resting key players to avoid the risk of injury. That won’t necessarily be the case this season after such a long hiatus.
Middleton said Friday he was “probably not able to touch a basketball for maybe two or three months” during the pandemic. Bucks guard Donte DiVincenzo said his inability to use the Bucks’ training facility for much of the hiatus caused him to focus on conditioning and said that “it kind of took me back to being a little kid again, dribbling the ball inside, doing those little moves on the sidewalk and stuff like that.”
That means even the teams without much at stake may need to spend these last eight regular-season games trying to regain the momentum that was lost these last few months.
“I don’t expect the first game or second game or third game, guys are going to be at 100%,” Bucks forward and reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo said. “Guys are going to be rusty. We’ll see a lot of balls, people throwing the ball through the stands, turnovers. You’re going to see that. But I think as we move forward and guys get more comfortable, the level of basketball is going to get better each game.”
An early top-seed clinching also could see Lakers forward LeBron James breaking his routine. Typically, once James’ team is locked into a playoff seed, he shuts it down and begins preparing for the postseason. But because of the layoff, it could be argued that James might want to get a bit more game action even after the Lakers clinch the No. 1 spot.
