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Tim BontempsESPN
While much of the country tried to deal with the scenes that emerged from Washington on Wednesday afternoon, while furious supporters of President Trump invaded the United States Capitol, much of the sports world was trying to figure out how to process the day’s events.
For the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics, that meant leaving the court together just before the game in Miami, with the two teams issuing a joint statement before the complaint.
“2021 is a new year, but some things have not changed,” says the statement. “We played tonight’s game with a heavy heart after yesterday’s decision in Kenosha, and knowing that protesters in our country’s capital are treated differently by political leaders, depending on which side they are on. The drastic difference between the way the protesters are last spring and summer were treated and the encouragement given to today’s protesters who acted illegally only shows how much more work we have to do.
“We decided to play tonight’s game 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 voice and our platform to highlight these issues and do everything we can to work for a more equal and just America. “
The declaration was concluded with the hashtag “BLACKLIVESSTILLMATTER”.
Most of the players from both teams also knelt during the national anthem.
It was a tumultuous 24 hours, starting with prosecutors’ decision on Tuesday not to open charges for the murder of Jacob Blake, a black man, by a white police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on August 23, and culminating in the violent violation of US Capitol that forced lawmakers to safety when they met to formally count the electoral votes that will make Joe Biden president on January 20.
In the meantime, Democrats Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff were named the winners of the second round of the US Senate in Georgia. Warnock’s opponent, co-owner of the Atlanta Dream Kelly Loeffler, said on Wednesday night that he would not object to the election votes for Biden after what happened on Capitol Hill. She was planning to object.
Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr called the day’s events “a very clear reminder that the truth is important”.
“A legitimate election is suddenly questioned by millions of people, including many of the people who are leading our country in government, because we have decided – in recent years – to allow lies to be told. who we are. You reap what you sow. “
The Warriors, many of them wearing Black Lives Matter T-shirts, knelt down to hear the anthem along with the LA Clippers before their game started Wednesday night at the Chase Center.
Celtics coach Brad Stevens said he and his players talked about the decision in the Blake case on Wednesday morning, but that he didn’t have a chance to speak to them after everything that happened in Washington this afternoon .
“I watched it all,” said Stevens during his pre-match media availability, ahead of Boston’s 107-105 victory. “I’m sure our players watched everything. I’m sure everyone watched everything. I think my reaction is sad. I think the way I see it is, I think we all hope that the people we choose to lead we should be examples of leadership, we will do this in a way that motivates us to serve others, to show compassion, to act gracefully, and instead we elect a president … and others, who have not shown that kind of grace.
“It’s been consistent. And they operated with a ‘win at all costs’ attitude. … Our sports world is much less important, obviously, but I always thought that if you operate with a ‘win at all costs’ attitude of costs, it will be a very low and unsatisfactory end. And in this situation, a shameful end. “
With Washington under a curfew from 6 pm ET on Wednesday to 6 am on Thursday, the George Washington men’s basketball game against UMass set for Wednesday night has been postponed.
National Basketball Players Association executive director Michele Roberts told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that there were no talks with the NBA over the postponement of any of the 11 games scheduled for Wednesday night. The Washington Wizards played against the 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.
Around the NBA, however, it was an exciting day, as the league tried to deal with the emotions of Blake’s decision, Senate victories and the Capitol invasion.
For 76ers coach Doc Rivers, who participated in many discussions about how the league could use its platform in the Orlando, Florida bubble during the NBA restart, it was a moment to remember that efforts were not in vain.
“But what is not … is an attack on democracy,” Rivers said, adding, “Democracy will prevail. It always does.”
Rivers drew a contrast between how the Black Lives Matter protests over the summer in Washington were handled, with “the police and the national guard and the army”, and how the pro-Trump crowd was treated on Wednesday – “without police dogs turned people over, no truncheon hitting people, people being peacefully escorted out of Capitol Hill, that shows you can disperse a crowd peacefully.
“Basically, this proves a point about a privileged life in many ways,” said Rivers. “I’m going to say this, because I don’t think a lot of people want it: can you imagine today, if everyone was black invading the Capitol, and what would have happened? This, for me, is an image that is worth a thousand words to everyone we see and probably something we can count on again. “
Meanwhile, few places have felt the emotions of the past 24 hours more 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 effort to get votes in the November general election and the special elections that just took place, what he saw on Wednesday was not unexpected.
“It’s tragic,” said Pierce. “I think it is sad, honestly. I think it is a sad reality … It is a pity that this is what we are seeing in our country after the past year. But it is not unexpected. In a day for someone like me, a man African American, to … see someone like Raphael Warnock become the first African American man representing the state of Georgia to go to the Senate, and you will see that the next day this is the reaction, this is the reality ”.
Pierce repeated Rivers, noting the discrepancy in how Trump supporters who invaded the Capitol were treated by local authorities, compared to the treatment of those who protested peacefully over the summer.
“There is a reason why there are no shootings, brutality, looting and things of that nature, and people are just walking around the Capitol building like it’s nothing. [Speaker of the House] Nancy Pelosi’s office as if it were nothing, “he said.” We all understand that it would have been weapons on fire and fire on fire now if it had been the black people protesting. If they were blacks protesting outside – we didn’t even mention people coming in and tearing up the [Capitol] construction.
“But none of that is going to change until we recognize that there is a huge difference in how blacks are treated in relation to law enforcement, and it just didn’t happen.”
And in the midst of it all, players and coaches were trying to figure out how to stay focused on the task at hand, while absorbing everything that was happening around them.
“There are a lot of layers to that,” said Houston Rockets coach Stephen Silas. “There is what is happening in the Capitol building, and there is the why, and then there is the why of this – the division and all these other things. There is a long history of division in our country when it comes to the political party, but it seems that now there’s more division in just, like, humanity. That’s what I’m fighting and fighting for now. ”
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson also spoke of the need to “come together as a nation”, adding, “We need security for our children and people”.
Others expressed disbelief at the day’s events.
“I am 59 years old and have never seen anything like it,” said Orlando Magic coach Steve Clifford. “Our country is laughing at us all over the world. From the way we deal with the pandemic even that … it’s a sad day for everyone. ”
In Phoenix, where Suns and Toronto Raptors formed a circle and embraced the American and Canadian anthems, Suns coach Monty Williams said that as a former athlete and now a coach, he is aware of the platform he received, along 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 see what I’m seeing and what I saw earlier today, I find it difficult to find ways to help a situation like this. I don’t know how to be a part of that solution with regard to what happened today.”
ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, Dave McMenamin, Royce Young and Ohm Youngmisuk contributed to this report.