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<div class="gmail-header gmail-reader-header gmail-reader-show-element"><font size="1"><a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/nba/bucks/2020/08/26/live-coverage-bucks-vs-magic-game-5/3442100001/?utm_source=The+Marshall+Project+Newsletter&utm_campaign=31c9fbe0cf-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_08_27_11_29&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5e02cdad9d-31c9fbe0cf-174606552">https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/nba/bucks/2020/08/26/live-coverage-bucks-vs-magic-game-5/3442100001/?utm_source=The+Marshall+Project+Newsletter&utm_campaign=31c9fbe0cf-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_08_27_11_29&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5e02cdad9d-31c9fbe0cf-174606552</a></font><h1 class="gmail-reader-title">After the Bucks took a stand on racial injustice, the entire NBA shut down for the day</h1>
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<a href="https://www.jsonline.com/staff/2646772001/matt-velazquez/" class="gmail-gnt_ar_by_a gmail-gnt_ar_by_a__fi">Matt Velazquez</a> - August 26, 2020<br></div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div><img src="https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2020/08/26/PMJS/7750fb12-f4f4-411b-8c6f-067e6758190f-Getty_1268881984.jpg?width=660&height=441&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp" alt="Referees stand on an empty court before the start of a scheduled game between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Orlando Magic for Game 5." style="margin-right: 25px;" width="447" height="299"><p>The
Orlando Magic was on the court warming up. The referees were there,
too. As the clock ticked down toward Game 5 of a first-round playoff
series scheduled for 3 p.m. Wednesday, though, the Milwaukee Bucks were
nowhere to be seen.</p><p>There's no doubt the Bucks were in the
building. Brook Lopez and D.J. Wilson were photographed entering
wearing shirts that read, "Black Excellence." Pat Connaughton was
sporting a T-shirt with the handwritten words, "Protect Kids Not Guns"
while the back of George Hill's shirt featured the message: "Change the
Narrative."</p><p>As it turns out, they were together in the locker room
with no plan to come out. Indeed, they were intent on changing the
narrative.</p><p>Unbeknownst to anyone outside their locker room, the
Bucks had collectively made the decision not to play Wednesday's game in
light of the shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man who on
Sunday was shot seven times in the back by police in Kenosha.</p><p>While
staying in their locker room for more than three hours, the Bucks spent
time on a conference call with Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul and
Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes, according to an ESPN report and confirmed
by the Journal Sentinel. The team's goal in those conversations was to
learn more about the situation and process as well as to discern
meaningful steps they could take.</p><p><strong>RELATED:</strong> <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/mlb/brewers/2020/08/26/brewers-follow-bucks-vote-not-play-protest-kenosha-shooting/3442042001/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brewers follow Bucks in deciding not to play</a></p><p>When
the Bucks emerged from their locker room, they did so as a united
front, offering a statement they had crafted together. Hill, who
together with Sterling Brown delivered the statement, explained that the
process had taken such a long time because the team wanted to take time
to brainstorm, educate themselves and avoid speaking with raw emotion.</p><p>The statement they made was as follows:</p><p>“The
past four months have shed a light on the ongoing racial injustices
facing our African American communities. Citizens around the country
have used their voices and platforms to speak out against these
wrongdoings.</p><p>“Over the last few days in our home state of
Wisconsin, we’ve seen the horrendous video of Jacob Blake being shot in
the back seven times by a police officer in Kenosha, and the additional
shooting of protestors. Despite the overwhelming plea for change, there
has been no action, so our focus today cannot be on basketball.</p><p>“When
we take the court and represent Milwaukee and Wisconsin, we are
expected to play at a high level, give maximum effort and hold each
other accountable. We hold ourselves to that standard, and in this
moment, we are demanding the same from our lawmakers and law
enforcement.</p><p>“We are calling for justice for Jacob Blake and
demand the officers be held accountable. For this to occur, it is
imperative for the Wisconsin State Legislature to reconvene after months
of inaction and take up meaningful measures to address issues of police
accountability, brutality and criminal justice reform. We encourage all
citizens to educate themselves, take peaceful and responsible action,
and remember to vote on Nov. 3.”</p><p>Following that statement, the
Bucks left without taking any questions. However, long before that
statement came, their first-of-its-kind decision not to play on
Wednesday in Game 5 of a playoff series in which they led, 3-1, had
already spoken volumes and set off a domino effect that spread through
the NBA, WNBA and Major League Baseball as players began to opt out of
other games, including the Milwaukee Brewers.</p><p>Ultimately, in light
of the Bucks' decision, the NBA chose to postpone all three games
scheduled for Wednesday. That being the case, the NBA had been backed
into a corner. Its players, in solidarity with the Bucks, weren't going
to play anyway and the Magic, which hadn't know about the Bucks'
protest, weren't going to accept a forfeit. The games weren't going to
happen whether the NBA postponed them or not.</p><p>With their choice,
the Bucks caused an unprecedented work stoppage in the NBA – in a season
already defined by an unprecedented work stoppage due to coronavirus –
one that may continue as players from the remaining playoff teams meet
to determine what action to take next. The NBA's Board of Governors will
reportedly hold a special meeting Thursday morning.</p><p>Milwaukee's
decision not to take the court came a day after the Bucks held a team
meeting to discuss the events of the previous couple of days. During
that talk, Bucks guard Wesley Matthews and assistant coaches Darvin Ham
and Vin Baker were among the people who made impassioned speeches.</p><p>The
take-home message from that session was that, to them, nothing was more
important than advancing the causes of social justice, racial justice
and ending the preponderance of police violence.</p><p>"I don’t think
it’s a distraction because it’s where our focus should be," Bucks center
Lopez said. "This issue is where our No. 1 focus should be at the end
of the day. Basketball is basketball, playoffs are playoffs, they’re
going to happen, what happens, happens, but the focus needs to be on
this issue. Day-to-day, in the long run, in the scheme of things, that’s
where the focus should be.”</p><p>The Bucks have been outspoken in the
days following Blake's shooting. Budenholzer opened his pregame media
session Monday with a statement of support for Blake and his family that
also decried the continued instances of police violence against Black
people and social injustice.</p><p>After Game 4, Hill and Bucks wing
Khris Middleton were even more passionate. Hill, clearly frustrated and
at times sounding hopeless, said he, his teammates and the NBA as a
whole "shouldn't even have came to this damn place," referring to the
restarted season at Walt Disney World.</p><p>"Coming here just took all
the focal points off what the issues are," Hill said. "But we're here.
It is what it is. We can't do anything from right here. But definitely,
when it's all settled, some things need to be done. This world has to
change.</p><p>"Our police department has to change. Us a society has to
change. Right now, we’re not seeing any of that. Lives are being taken
as we speak day in and day out. There’s no consequence or accountability
for it. That’s what has to change.”</p><p>Middleton, who was in
Charleston, South Carolina, when nine Black people were shot and killed
during a Bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church
in 2015, was similarly outraged with another shooting, virtually in his
backyard, this time in Kenosha.</p><p>“I mean, I think this is why we
have so many people outraged all over the country," Middleton said. "The
man was shot seven times at point-blank range in the back. It doesn’t
get any sicker than that.</p><p>"I think people are starting to see why
Black people, colored people are so afraid of police because at any
time, no matter what type of position, no matter what they did right or
wrong, their first act is to shoot us. That’s a very scary situation to
be in when they’re supposed to protect us.”</p><p>It's not as if the
Bucks had to look for stories of police using excessive use of force
against a Black person. Brown had his own experience with police using
excessive force when <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/videos/news/2018/05/23/body-cam-video-shows-sterling-brown-being-tasered-and-arrested-milwaukee-police/639125002/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in 2018 he was tasered</a> and had one officer kneel on his neck and another on his ankle over a parking violation at a Walgreens.</p><p>That
incident led to multiple officers being suspended as well as a civil
rights lawsuit filed by Brown against the City of Milwaukee. In May,
Brown's lawyers motioned to <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/crime/2019/10/10/milwaukee-bucks-sterling-brown-lawsuit-details-police-misconduct/3918485002/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">throw out the city's offer</a> to settle the suit for $400,000. Brown also penned a letter for The Players' Tribune, titled, "<a href="https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/sterling-brown-milwaukee-police-racial-injustice" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Your Money Can't Silence Me</a>," in which he detailed the events of that night and his response to it.</p><p>As an organization, the Bucks fully threw their support behind Brown following that incident, <a href="https://www.nba.com/bucks/news/bucks-organization-statement-sterling-brown" target="_blank" rel="noopener">speaking out strongly</a>
against the excessive use of force in that instance and countless
others that happened to individuals out of the public spotlight.</p><p>The organization's clear and unwavering support was also on display in 2015 when then-Bucks center <a href="http://archive.jsonline.com/sports/bucks/bucks-john-henson-says-he-was-racially-profiled-in-whitefish-bay-b99599623z1-334408321.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">John Henson was racially profiled</a> in Whitefish Bay. Middleton and fellow Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo were both on the team when that incident occurred.</p><p>Over
the past few years, the Bucks have often been at the forefront of the
NBA in addressing social injustices. From top to bottom, the
organization was in full alignment with the team's decision on
Wednesday.</p><p>"We fully support our players and the decision they
made," Bucks co-owners Marc Lasry, Wes Edens and Jamie Dinan wrote in a
statement. "Although we did not know beforehand, we would have
wholeheartedly agreed with them. The only way to bring about change is
to shine a light on the racial injustices that are happening in front of
us. Our players have done that and we will continue to stand alongside
them and demand accountability and change."</p><p>The Bucks joined with
the Sacramento Kings to hold summits called, “Team Up for Change,” each
of the past two years, designed to address social injustice in both
cities and the country at large. In December, the <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2019/12/17/bucks-visit-racine-correctional-institution-play-justice/2675732001/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bucks visited the Racine Correctional Institution</a> to
listen to the stories of the incarcerated individuals there in an
attempt to listen to their stories and share some moments of humanity
with them by playing basketball together.</p><p>That experience, which
was unanimously described as moving and deeply meaningful by players,
coaches and staff, was part of the NBA’s “Play for Justice” initiative
and in partnership with the Anti-Recidivism Coalition and Represent
Justice.</p><p>After the killing of George Floyd by police in
Minneapolis in May, numerous Bucks players took to the streets of
Milwaukee to join and support Black Lives Matter protests. On June 7,
the Bucks planned and held their own protest march – making them the
first NBA team to do so – which featured <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2020/06/07/bucks-player-sterling-brown-leads-one-several-marches-milwaukee/3172134001/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brown at the front of the group</a> with a bullhorn.</p><p>“For
these white people and everybody that’s not Black to walk up the street
and say Black lives matter – if they really mean it, then something’s
gonna come out of this,” Brown said that day.</p><p>Now, the Bucks are
again in a protest situation that has made waves not just in Milwaukee
or in the NBA, but across the world. Again, they're hoping something
good is going to come out of it.</p><p>When it comes to basketball, it's
unclear whether this NBA season will resume or not. This second
stoppage initiated by the Bucks may prove to be the thing that
undermines the team objective the top-seeded Bucks had carried into the
Walt Disney World bubble – becoming champions.</p><p>Ironically, with
their actions on Wednesday, they may have actually ensured that will be
the case in the eyes of many. By deciding to opt out of Game 5, the
Milwaukee Bucks became champions for the causes of social and racial
justice and champions of reform when it comes to the issues of policing,
particularly police violence perpetuated against Black Americans.</p><p>They
may have sacrificed their season, the support of some fans and their
own earnings, but it seems clear from their unified actions the Bucks
believe that trade is worthwhile.</p></div></div></div>
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