Utah owner calls for fans ‘to do better’

Utah Jazz owner Gail Miller spoke to the crowd prior to Thursday night’s game to address an encounter between Oklahoma City star Russell Westbrook and a fan Tuesday. Utah permanently banned the fan from all arena events, and Westbrook was fined $25,000 by the league.

Miller, who has owned the team for 34 years with her late husband Larry, implored the crowd to do better and said, “We are not a racist community.”

She exhorted fans to enjoy the competition and cheer the Jazz as loudly as ever but cautioned, “No one wins when respect goes away.”

Players from both teams listened intently and applauded the speech.

“To have your owner to be so forward and so out there and back us the way she did, and back Russell ... that’s amazing,” Utah guard Donovan Mitchell said. “That’s the incredible thing about the NBA, because, as we all know, all sports aren’t like that.”

Lakers

LeBron James missed Friday night’s game at Detroit. The Lakers, who have fallen well off the pace in the playoff race, have been managing James’ minutes down the stretch. He’s played under 34 minutes in each of the team’s past four games, but this was the first game he’s missed entirely since Feb. 2

Thunder

Oklahoma City is adding a jersey patch, becoming the 30th and final NBA team with a corporate sponsorship on their uniform. The team says the patch with the logo of Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores will be on Thunder uniforms starting with their game Saturday against Golden State.

Elsewhere

The NBA is now offering a 10-minute viewing pass for fans who want to see what’s happening in the league at a given moment. The product will be rolled out Saturday and costs 99 cents. Fans will have the ability to watch as many live out-of-market games as they desire during those 10 minutes. The option will be available on NBA.com and through the NBA application on mobile devices.