Breaking News: NBA Teams Boycott Playoff Games in Wake of Jacob Blake Shooting
This afternoon, the NBA playoffs were set to continue with the Orlando Magic and Milwaukee Bucks tipping-off at 4 p.m / ET. But due to the atrocity that was the Jacob Blake shooting, both teams decided to boycott the game.
Game balls are being put away, as the Bucks decide to boycott game 5 against the Magic. pic.twitter.com/Cy32q2CJH7
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) August 26, 2020
This move by the Bucks and Magic prompted the other four teams scheduled to play tonight to boycott their games as well.
All games are postponed, and Game 5 of each series will be rescheduled, NBA says.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 26, 2020
With this now being the case, it can be assumed that the games scheduled for tomorrow will be cancelled as well. That is especially true considering the Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors have already had joint meetings discussing the possibility of a boycott.
Before I get into some thoughts, I would first like to say this isn’t something I wish I didn’t have to write about. But due to the world we live in, we as people have to put sports aside and focus on the bigger issues at hand.
What happened to Jacob Blake is something that should never happen. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you’ve done, where you have been. Getting shot in the back SEVEN times by a group of police officers is straight up ridiculous. Was there no way they could’ve subdued him before it came to gunfire?
Damn they shot that man 7 times…. why can’t 3 officers subdue one male? I truly need answers y’all comment on everything else……
— Tyrann Mathieu (@Mathieu_Era) August 24, 2020
I am not going to sit here and type about politics because at the end of the day, this isn’t politics. Treating people like people doesn’t involve being a Democrat or Republican, it involves being a good person: something I believe we have seen too little of these days.
I mean, some people are actually getting upset about the absence of basketball tonight. When the United States of America has continuous instances of inequality popping up again and again, basketball should be the last thing on someone’s mind. But for some dumb reason, that isn’t the case with everyone.
I am hoping that this string of cancellations brings the real issues to the forefront. Originally, NBA players were afraid that the restart of basketball would take eyes off of the Black Lives Matter movement.
But at the end of the day, it isn’t any one athletes’ job to make changes in our world. It is up to the people who are actually in charge. And if sitting out some damn basketball games will help get that change going, it will be worth it a billion times over.
the pressure to spark real change continues to fall on athletes instead of those whose job it is to produce said change https://t.co/0x58Ef6WRB
— john sheeran (@John__Sheeran) August 26, 2020
– Jarrod Ribaudo (@Jribs53)
Featured image courtesy of Twitter / @TacoBoutSports