Brown doesn’t give up fight
Rockets guard Sterling Brown was not going to give up. The fight, he said, was always going to take years, not weeks or months.
Having worked to bring a spotlight to last summer’s police shooting in Kenosha, Wis., Brown considered the decision announced Wednesday to not bring charges against the police officer who shot and wounded Jacob Blake outside an apartment building in August and said “We still got work to do, man.
“It can’t be any more clear- cut than a video,” Brown said. “A guy got his back turned and seven shots. He’s no threat. Even if you did feel threatened, you had time to de- escalate the situation, get the situation under control. To resort to shooting a gun seven times, it’s ridiculous. We still have work to do. We have to keep using our voice, keep using our platform, keep getting in there, trying to make change.”
Brown, then with Milwaukee, helped lead the Bucks’ decision to not play against the Orlando Magic in last season’s playoffs, a decision that led to an NBA shutdown of the postseason for several days. The episode in Kenosha, about 45 miles from Milwaukee, sparked nationwide protests in the wake of the killing of George Floyd last spring in Minneapolis.
Brown in January 2018 was the victim of a highprofile incident in Milwaukee in which police officers tackled him, stepped on him and tasered him over an alleged parking violation. He was never charged. Brown has since been a leading voice in the NBA’s calls for social justice reform. In November, he settled a lawsuit in which the City of Milwaukee admitted a “constitutional violation” and committed to enacted policy changes.
Brown was among a delegation of five NBA players and three executives from the National Basketball Players Association that met with Pope Francis in a private onehour meeting in November.
“I’m not really surprised,” Brown said of this week’s decision. “It was definitely our goal and our intention to bring a lot of awareness and hoping to get justice and the right outcome. It’s not shocking. It’s not surprising. We shouldn’t take it to be that way. We know what these policies and these laws are in place to do and who they are in place to target.
“We got a lot to do. I mean, 400 years of this thing building up; it’s not going to change in a matter of months. It’s not going to change in a matter of one, two, three, four years. It’s going to take time. We got to keep working.”
No joy in coaches facing each other
Magic coach Steve Clifford enjoys seeing, not competing with Rockets’ Stephen Silas
When Stephen Silas was named Rockets coach, Clifford said he and his staff cheered as if they had just clinched a playoff series. When they met on Friday for the first time as opposing head coaches, however, Clifford said he was certain he would not enjoy it at all.
“It’s not cool,” Clifford, a former Rockets assistant coach, said of trying to beat his friend. “It’s just like coaching against Thibs (Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau) or Stan ( Van Gundy, the Pelicans coach.) We spent a little bit of time last night together. Stephen did so much for me. We’ve had a great friendship for a long time. (Coaching against him) is not fun at all,
“It was a matter of time. He’s a terrific coach. He’s got a philosophy that he believes in and he’s a great communicator with the players. He’ll do great. It was a great hire by the Rockets.”
Clifford said he did not look forward to coaching against Silas for the obvious reasons.
“Besides working together, he’s one of my best friends,” Clifford said. “I don’t want him to lose.”
Silas worked on Clifford’s Charlotte Hornets staff for five years, longer than he had been with any head coach in his 20 years as an assistant other than his father, Paul Silas.
“The preparation part is huge with Cliff and I learned a lot of it from him, the details,” Silas said. “He’s an amazing coach. There’s so many layers to him as far as connecting with players, making sure they’re prepared, making sure they know what’s ahead. He’s always very prepared and I want to make sure my teams are prepared as well.”
Back spasms sideline House
Though Rockets center ChristianWood made his return after missing one game out with a sore left knee, the Rockets remained down one starter with Danuel House Jr. out with back spasms. After several days of improvement, he had so far to go the Rockets could not put a timetable on his return.
“A few days ago, he barely could even walk,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. “Seeing him up and around and walking around, even gingerly today, indicates there is improvement. He will continue to improve. Hopefully, it’ll loosen up.
“We’ve all gone through it where you have those back issues. You think, you’re OK and turn one way and it just doesn’t feel right. Fortunately, it’s getting better, but it’s a back.”
With that, Silas assumed the media members in his pregame session could relate.
“Probably everybody on this call knows how it is when you have a back issue. We’re up in age compared to these guys.”