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Tim good morningESPN
As much of the country tried to fight the scenes that came out of Washington on Wednesday afternoon, while President Trump’s angry supporters stormed the US Chapter, much of the sports world tried to figure out how to prosecute. the events of the day.
For the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics, it meant leaving the field together shortly before their Miami game, with the two teams issuing a joint statement just before the tipoff.
“2021 is a new year, but some things have not changed,” the statement said. “We are playing tonight’s game with a heavy heart after yesterday’s decision in Kenosha and knowing that protesters in our nation’s capital are treated differently by political leaders, depending on which side of certain issues they are in. The drastic difference in the way protesters in Kenosha are treated. last spring and summer they were treated, and the encouragement given to today’s protesters who acted illegally shows just how much more we have to do.
“We decided to play the game tonight to try to bring joy to people’s lives. But we must not forget the injustices in our society and we will continue to use our voices and platform to highlight these issues and do everything we can to work for a more equal and just America. “
The statement ended with the hashtag “BLACKLIVESSTILLMATTER”.
Most of the players from both teams also knelt during the national anthem.
It’s been a tumultuous 24 hours since Tuesday’s prosecutors’ decision not to prosecute the shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man, by a white police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Aug. 23, culminating in the violation. of the US Capitol that forced lawmakers to rush to safety when they met to formally count the election votes that will make Joe Biden president on January 20th.
Meanwhile, Democrats Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff were named winners of the US Senate rounds in Georgia. Warnock’s opponent, Atlanta Dream co-owner Kelly Loeffler, said Wednesday night that she will not object to the election votes for Biden after what happened at the Capitol. He had planned to object. Former college football coach and current Alabama senator Tommy Tuberville was one of the few Republican senators to oppose Arizona’s presidential election certification. The challenge was rejected.
Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr called the day’s events “a pretty clear reminder that the truth matters.”
“A legitimate choice is suddenly questioned by millions of people, including many of the people who lead our country in government, because we have decided – in recent years – to allow lies to be told. So this is who we are. You reap what you sow. “
The Warriors, many of them dressed in Black Lives Matter shirts, knelt for the anthem with the LA Clippers before their game began Wednesday night at the Chase Center.
Celtics coach Brad Stevens said he and his players talked about the decision in the Blake case Wednesday morning, but did not have the opportunity to speak with them after everything that happened in Washington during the afternoon.
“I looked at it all,” Stevens said during press availability before winning 107-105 in Boston. “I’m sure our players watched everything. I’m sure everyone watched everything. I think my reaction is sad. I think the way they look at it is, I think we all hope that the people we choose lead us. we should shape leadership, we will do it in a motivated way by serving others, by showing compassion, by gracious action, and instead we have elected a president … and others who have not shown this grace.
“It simply came to our notice then. And they just acted in a “win at all costs” attitude. … Our sports world is much less important, obviously, but I always thought that if you act with a gain at all the attitude of costs, it will be a rather low and unfulfilled end. And in this situation, a shameful ending. “
With Washington undercover from 6pm ET Wednesday until 6:00 a.m. Thursday, George Washington’s men’s basketball game against UMass set for Wednesday night has been postponed.
The executive director of the National Association of Basketball Players, Michele Roberts, told Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN that there were no talks with the NBA about postponing any of the 11 games scheduled for Wednesday night. The Washington Wizards played 76ers in Philadelphia.
And NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said there was no change in the status of this weekend’s wild card game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Washington football team in Landover, Maryland.
However, around the NBA, it was an exciting day, as the league tried to fight the mixed emotions of Blake’s decision, the victories of the Senate and the assault of the Chapter.
For 76ers coach Doc Rivers, who has been the subject of numerous discussions about how the league could use its bubble platform in Orlando, Florida during the NBA replay, it was time to remember that these efforts were not in vain. vain.
“But what is not … is an attack on democracy,” Rivers said, adding: “Democracy will prevail. It always happens.”
Rivers contrasted how Washington’s Black Lives Matter protests were handled with “police and the National Guard and the military” and how she was treated pro-Trump on Wednesday – “no police” dogs. they headed for people, with no billy clubs hitting people. People are peacefully escorted from the Chapter. So show that you can peacefully disperse a lot.
“It basically demonstrates a point about a privileged life in many ways,” Rivers said. “I will say it, because I don’t think a lot of people will: Can you imagine today, if it were all the blacks who were assaulting the Chapter and what would have happened? That, for me, is an image worth a thousand words for all of us to see and probably something to think about again. “
Meanwhile, a few places felt more emotion in the last 24 hours than Atlanta, where Warnock became the first black man elected to the Senate by the state of Georgia.
But for Lloyd Pierce, the Atlanta Hawks coach, who was at the forefront of the organization’s drive to get the vote in both the November general election and the special election that just took place, what he saw on Wednesday was not unexpected.
“It’s tragic,” Pierce said. “I think it’s sad, honestly. I think it’s a sad reality … It’s unfortunate that this is what we look at in our country after the year we passed. But it’s not unexpected. One day for someone like me, an Afro- American, to … see someone like Raphael Warnock becoming the first African-American man to represent the state of Georgia going to the Senate, and you see the next day that this is the reaction, this is the reality. “
Pierce echoed Rivers, noting the discrepancy in how Trump’s supporters who stormed the Chapter were treated by local authorities, compared to the treatment of those who protested peacefully during the summer.
“There is a reason why there are no shootings, brutality and robberies and things like that, and people walk around the Chapter building as if it were nothing. And the people who live in [Speaker of the House] Nancy Pelosi’s office as if it were nothing, “he said.” We all understand that there would have been guns and fireworks right now if black people had protested. If those were the blacks protesting outside – I didn’t even mention people coming in and breaking [Capitol] building.
“But none of that will change until we recognize that there is a huge difference in how blacks are treated in law enforcement, and that just hasn’t happened.”
And, against all odds, players and coaches were trying to figure out how to stay focused on the task at hand as they took over everything that was going on around them.
“There are so many layers,” said Stephen Silas, the Houston Rockets coach. “There is what happens in the Chapter building, then there is the reason and then the reason why – the division and all the other things. There is a long history of division in our country when it comes to political party, but it seems that at this moment there is more more of a division in just humanity. That’s what I’m fighting and I’m fighting right now. “
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson also spoke about the need to “come together as a nation,” adding, “We need safety for our children and our people.”
Others expressed distrust of the day’s events.
“I’m 59 years old and I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Orlando Magic coach Steve Clifford. “Our country laughs at everyone. From the way we’ve treated the pandemic to this … it’s a day. sad for everyone. “
In Phoenix, where the Suns and Toronto Raptors sat in a circle and tied their arms to the American and Canadian anthems, Suns coach Monty Williams said that as a former athlete and now coach, he is aware of the platform he was offered together. with other professional athletes, “to help when we can. We don’t necessarily have to solve problems, but we can be part of some of the solutions.”
But, “when I look at what I see and what I saw earlier today, it is hard for me to find ways to help in such a situation. I don’t know how to be part of that solution as it relates to what happened today. “
Tim MacMahon, Dave McMenamin, Royce Young and Ohm Youngmisuk contributed to this report.