After going through their pregame warmups, talking through the game plan in the locker room and huddling up in the hallway, Thunder players down in the Orlando bubble get their minds locked in, as usual. The muscle memory is just so familiar – it’s their same routine at home and on the road.
As the huddle breaks, they rush out in a single file line. A couple of basketballs get bounced with push-ahead dribbles, heads emerge from the tunnel and the bright lights flooding the arena flash into their eyes. The sound they hear, however, is a deafening silence.