Instead of discussing his team’s 154-111 victory in Game 5 over the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers chose to address the shooting of Jacob Blake and racial injustice in America during his postgame remarks on Tuesday.
“It’s amazing why we keep loving this country, and this country does not love us back,” Rivers said in part. “It’s really so sad. Like, I should just be a coach. I’m so often reminded of my color. It’s just really sad. We got to do better. But we got to demand better. It’s funny. We protest. They send riot guards. They send people in riot outfits. They go up to Michigan with guns. They’re spitting on cops. Nothing happens. The training has to change in the police force. The unions have to be taken down in the police force. My dad was a cop. I believe in good cops. We’re not trying to defund the police and take all their money away. We’re trying to get them to protect us, just like they protect everybody else.”
Blake, 29, was shot in the back several times by police in Wisconsin and is now paralyzed. Family attorney Benjamin Crump said Tuesday that Blake, a Black man, underwent surgery and was “struggling to sustain his life.”
Emotions within the NBA bubble about the Blake shooting are raw and have led to discussions of the Raptors and Celtics boycotting the first game of their second-round matchup on Thursday night.
“We knew coming here or not coming here was not going to stop anything, but I think ultimately playing or not playing puts pressure on somebody,” Raptors guard Fred VanVleet said on Tuesday.
Also, following Utah’s 117-107 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday, Jazz star Donovan Mitchell called Blake’s shooting by police “inexcusable” and “disgusting.”
Jaylen Brown, who is on the Celtics, also had a strong response to Blake being shot when asked about the situation and revealed a personal connection to the shooting that relates to his jersey number, No. 7.
There’s been no official word on if Thursday’s game will proceed as planned but longtime Celtics announcer Mike Gorman put the odds at 50/50 during a radio interview on Boston’s Toucher and Rich Show on Wednesday morning.
As of now, Wednesday’s games are set to proceed as scheduled.
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