Following a similar script
After show of solidarity, victory looks familiar
The Milwaukee Bucks won the uncontested opening tipoff against the Detroit Pistons Wednesday night at Fiserv Forum, and the Giannis Antetokounmpo rolled ball out of bounds.
Both teams then knelt.
The ball turned over to the Pistons, Blake Griffin then took the inbound and he too, rolled the ball away.
The teams knelt again.
Play resumed after the teams demonstrated in solidarity in the players' continuing efforts to bring awareness to social justice causes and police brutality.
Before the game, which Milwaukee won, 130-115, Bucks center Brook Lopez said the team was going to take some kind of action in response to the Kenosha County District Attorney not bringing charges against police officer Rusty Sheskey for shooting Jacob Blake on Aug. 23.
On Aug. 26, the Bucks held a wildcat strike in the NBA playoffs.
“This is obviously all something each and every one of us are very, very passionate about, as you guys saw last year, and we continue to be so,” Lopez said after the team held its shootaround in the afternoon.
Lopez said the team, even with a roster of new players, felt it was important to continue to be a leader for the NBA on such conversations.
“Absolutely,” Lopez said. “We definitely take pride in that. It's something we're very proud of, and I think if you look at teams around the league and the WNBA, you look at what the Atlanta Dream did in Georgia, what an effect they had on their runoff elections in their state. There's obviously that power to make a change, make a difference. We
definitely take that responsibility seriously and we're proud to be a part of it.”
With the victory, the Bucks have now won three straight overall to improve to 5-3 and nine straight against the Pistons (1-7). The Bucks followed a familiar format in rolling to victory.
Hot three-point shooting: The Bucks shot 63% from beyond the threepoint line (12 for 19) in taking a 26-point lead into halftime. They finished with 19 made threes while making 44.2%.
Ball sharing: The Bucks set a season high with 35 assists, and nine of the 11 players who saw court time set up at