NBA re-opens with players, coaches kneeling
Statements calling for racial justice expected to be a theme
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Players and coaches from the New Orleans Pelicans and Utah Jazz knelt alongside one another before the first game of the NBA restart Thursday night, an unprecedented image for the league in unprecedented times.
The coaches — New Orleans’ Alvin Gentry and Utah’s Quin Snyder — were next to one another, their arms locked together. Some players raised a fist as the final notes of “The StarSpangled Banner” were played, the first of what is expected to be many silent statements calling for racial justice and equality following the deaths of, among others, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd in recent months.
Even the game referees took a knee during the pregame scene, which occurred with the teams lined up along the sideline nearest where “Black Lives Matter” was painted onto the court. The Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers did the same before the second game of the reopening night doubleheader later Thursday.
“It’s so important at this point for us to be unified and be able to peacefully protest many of the critical things that are going on in the country right now,” Snyder said.
The NBA has a rule going back to the early 1980s that players must stand for the national anthem. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, anticipating that players would kneel during these games at Walt Disney World, has made clear that he supports peaceful protests.
Many players warmed up wearing shirts that said “Black Lives Matter.” Thursday also marked the debut of new jerseys bearing messages that many players chose to have added, such as “Equality” and “Peace.”
“We want our lives to be valued as much as everybody else,” Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum said in a video that aired before the games, part of a project organized by the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association. “We don’t think that we’re better. We want to be seen as equals.”
The NBA season was suspended when Rudy Gobert of the Jazz tested positive for the coronavirus and became the first player in the league with such a diagnosis. Gobert was diagnosed on March 11; two days later, Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, was fatally shot when police officers burst into her Louisville, Kentucky, apartment using a no-knock warrant during a narcotics investigation. The warrant was in connection with a suspect who did not live there and no drugs were found.
Then on May 25, Floyd died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee into the Black man’s neck for nearly eight minutes. That happened on a street, with the images — and sounds of the man saying he couldn’t breathe, then crying out for his mother — all captured on a cell phone video.
NBA players have used their platforms — both in the bubble and on social media — to demand equality, to demand justice for Taylor. Coaches have also said it is incumbent on them to demand change and educate themselves and others.
Thursday games
LAKERS 103, CLIPPERS 101: LeBron James and the Lakers showed some rust. They knocked it off with time to spare. Anthony Davis scored 34 points and James had the go-ahead basket with 12.8 seconds left as the Lakers moved closer to clinching the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs by topping the Clippers.
James had 16 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists to help the Lakers move 6½ games ahead of the Clippers in the West with seven games remaining. Kyle Kuzma added 16 points.
Paul George had 30 points and Kawhi Leonard scored 28 for the Clippers, who had an 11-point lead midway through the third in a game with deep ebbs and flows. The Clippers got that lead after a 26-5 run. The Lakers immediately rebutted with a 36-14 run to reclaim control.
And it still came down to the final moments.
George’s 3-pointer with 1:50 left cut the Lakers’ lead to 99-98. James muscled his way to a layup on the next possession, and then George hit another 3 to tie the game at 101 with 29 seconds remaining.
James followed his own miss down the lane for the go-ahead basket.
JAZZ 106, PELICANS 104: Rudy Gobert sank two free throws with 6.9 seconds left to cap a 14-point, 12-rebound and threeblock performance, giving Utah a victory over New Orleans as the regular season resumed.
The Pelicans, who led for most of the game and by as many as 16 points, nearly pulled out the victory as time expired when Brandon Ingram’s 3-point attempt rimmed out in a bitter end to his 23-point night.
KNICKS: Tom Thibodeau brought the Chicago Bulls to their greatest success since Michael Jordan. He returned the Minnesota Timberwolves to the playoffs after a 13-year absence.
Thursday the Knicks brought the former NBA Coach of the Year back to the organization he helped reach the NBA Finals (1999) as an assistant.
Thibodeau was on the staff from 1996-2003.