This is how the NBA reacted to the protests at the Capitol

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While the United States was trying to deal with the scenes that arose in Washington dc. on Wednesday afternoon, when supporters of President Trump stormed the Capitol, the sports world was trying to figure out how to process the day’s events along with everyone else.

“But what’s not,” said the Philadelphia 76ers coach, Rius Doc, Wednesday night, “It’s just that I keep hearing that this is an attack on democracy. It’s not. Democracy will prevail. It always does. However, it shows a lot. When we saw the protest in the summer and we seeing the riots, we saw the police and the national guard and the army, and then you see this and you see nothing (similar) … It basically proves a point about privileged life in many ways.

“I’ll say it, because I don’t think a lot of people want to (say it): Can you imagine if they were all African Americans storming the capital what would have happened? This, to me, is a picture worth a thousand words, so let’s see it. all, and probably something we need to consider again.

“No police dog attacked people, no police beat people. People were escorted peacefully outside the Capitol. Then it shows that you can peacefully disperse a crowd. But it’s a sad day, in many ways. “It’s not good for our country. On the other side of the border, people will see this, but it’s part of who we are, so we have to fix it.”

While the men’s basketball game between the University of Massachusetts and George Washington University in the nation’s capital was postponed, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Wednesday that there have been no formal discussions between the NBA and the NBA. National Association of Basketball Players on the possibility of postponing any of the 11 league games scheduled for Wednesday night. This included the Washington NBA team, the Wizards, who were ready to play in Philadelphia against the 76ers.

“We should be better than that,” the Washington Wizards coach said. Scott Brooks. “When I see the videos, it’s disgusting. This is a special place, and one just expects everyone to be safe. That shouldn’t be allowed. It’s unacceptable.”

The same can be said of the plans of the NFL for this weekend’s Wildcard Game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Washington football team in Landover, Maryland.

“There are no changes in the status of any of the games this weekend,” the NFL spokesman said. Brian McCarthy.

It has been a tumultuous 24 hours, since no charges were filed for the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, during this summer. On Tuesday afternoon, the two Democratic candidates for the two open Senate seats in Georgia, the Rev. Raphael Warnock i Jon Ossoff, Were named winners of these races Wednesday morning and then came the violent scenes in Capitol Hill Wednesday afternoon.

The Boston Celtics coach, Brad Stevens, He said he and his players had talked about the decision in the Blake case Wednesday morning, but that he had not had a chance to talk to them after everything that happened in Washington during the afternoon.

“I saw it all,” Stevens said. “I’m sure our players saw it all. I’m sure everyone has seen it. I guess my reaction is sad. I think the way I see it is that I think we all expect the people we choose to lead- we are supposed to be shaping leadership, doing so in a motivated way to serve others by showing compassion, acting with grace, and instead we chose a president who is fortunately coming out, and others who have not shown that grace.

“It’s been consistent. And they’ve just operated with an attitude of ‘winning at any cost.’ And I don’t know, our world of sports is much less important, obviously, but I’ve always thought that if you operate with an attitude of “winning at any cost” will be a pretty low and unsatisfactory end.And in this situation, a shameful end.

“So I look forward to two weeks from now, just like other people.”

Few places felt the emotions of the last 24 hours more than Atlanta, where Warnock became the first African-American man elected to the Senate by the state just hours before Wednesday afternoon’s riots.

but for Lloyd Pierce, The Atlanta Hawks coach who has been at the forefront of the organization’s push to get the vote in both the November general election and the upcoming special election, said what was watching Wednesday was not unexpected.

“It’s tragic,” Pierce said. “I think it’s sad, honestly. I think it’s a sad reality, that’s really it. It’s unfortunate that this is what we’re seeing in our country after the year we’ve spent. But it’s not unexpected. In a day for someone like me, an african american man, one day to look here in the state of Georgia and see someone like Raphael Warnock become the first African American man to represent the state of Georgia in the Senate and see the next day that this it is the reaction, that is the reality.

“It’s no coincidence that this is the reaction to every event. We keep talking about what happened yesterday with a very promising election. The people of Georgia came out and voted. African Americans in the state of Georgia voted at a rate higher than in the November 3 elections.They spoke for this state and for the country.

“We live in a divided country and we can say it’s power and politics, but it’s also race. And today it’s a reflection, and it’s true for those who have neglected the issues related to people of color, communities of color, African Americans and their ability to have access, if they have ever neglected it, they are seeing it today, it is real.Racism is real.The problems are real.The protests were real.because what we are seeing is sad, it is a “It’s a sad reality that our country has yet to recognize and acknowledge. For those who didn’t believe it, I hope they believe it now.”

Both Pierce and Rivers also talked about the difficulties in seeing how the protesters were treated this summer when the issue was Black lives matter, And how they were treated on Wednesday, when they were seen taking pictures with police and opening large doors to let them into the Capitol.

“These are not the masses,” Rivers said. “The masses have spoken. I’m very proud of Georgia. Georgia spoke, you know? So these are not the masses. This is a group of people who have decided to be rebellious. And if we leave it that way, you know, I think everyone “We’d be in a better place, wouldn’t we? But the symbolism of storming the Capitol without forcing them. If you’re an African-American, it definitely affects you differently. That’s not an African-American thing. This is an American thing and not we should make it that way. But it definitely makes you think, sure. “

“I wish you knew the answer to that,” Pierce said. “It will never change until it is recognized that there is a difference. It will never change unless there is an acknowledgment of the past of how African Americans have always been treated and the history of it. Return to slavery, return to Reconstruction, back to civil rights.You can’t say things will change if you don’t recognize that there is a problem.What you are seeing today is a reminder that there is a big difference.

“There’s a reason there’s no shootings, brutality, looting and stuff like that and people just walk around the Capitol like it’s nothing. And there are people sitting in the office of Nancy Pelosi as if nothing. We all understand that there would have been guns and fire at this time if African Americans had protested. If there had been African American people protesting abroad. We haven’t even mentioned that people enter and destroy the building. But none of that will change until we recognize that there is a big difference in how African Americans are treated in terms of law enforcement and that just hasn’t happened.

“We’ve been fighting for that, there have been protests for that, there’s a reason people have encouraged others to come out and vote to change leadership. But until you truly recognize that there’s a difference in the way you what is happening to African Americans in this country, especially when it comes to law enforcement, in situations like this this will not change. “

And, in the middle of it all, the players and coaches were trying to figure out how to stay focused on the task in question while assimilating everything that was going on around them.

“There are so many layers,” the Houston Rockets coach said. Stephen Silas. “It’s happening in the Capitol building, and then there’s the why, and then there’s the why of it: division and all that other stuff. There’s a long history of division in our country when it’s about political parties, but it seems like there’s more division in humanity right now. That’s what I’m struggling with and struggling with right now. “

ESPN’s Tim MacMahon and Royce Young contributed to this report.

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