[Sport]And the NBA debuted its bubble: knees to the ground against racism and the Lakers' victory over the Clippers

[SougarLord]

The NBA finally returned after more than four months of absence. He did it at Disney World, in Orlando, Florida. In one of the areas hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, in a country that accounts for millions of infected cases (4.5 million, 68,000 in the last hours) and hundreds of thousands of deaths (154,000, 1,231 in the last day).

 

                          

 

Florida has not escaped the virus, but the NBA is trying. In a Disney bubble turned into an anti-coronavirus bunker, without an audience, with Jazz, Pelicans, Lakers and Clippers opening official meetings, with the rest of the league stars as luxury spectators in the stands and with the knee on the ground in sign of eternal protest for police brutality. The NBA, NBA players, NBA stars, NBA coaches ... They have become the maximum responsible for social demands, and they will not stop.

 

"We are dealing with a lot of racism, a lot of social injustice and police brutality," said LeBron James, who joined the lineup of Lakers and Clippers players who, mingled on the court, stuck their knees in a historic image. "This is a good start, but we cannot stop. We will keep our foot on the gas as we have in the past two months," he said.

In the same vein and in a speech vital to the interests of the league, Adam Silver, Commissioner of the competition, was shown: "I respect the unified act of peaceful protest of our teams for social justice," said Silver, who assured that " these unique circumstances "the league will not punish those who do not stand up during the anthem, something that has been 'official' in the NBA since the 80s.

 

ANTI-RACIST MESSAGES ON T-SHIRTS

 

Additionally, the NBA has allowed players to change their first and last names to messages in support of social justice, the fight for racial rights or equality. They just had to keep their number. Nothing else.

 

Donovan Mitchell, a star of the Utah Jazz, showed the media a bulletproof vest with several of the names of the people who died at the hands of the police. "We are tired of being afraid. It doesn't matter how much money you have or if you are famous. As an African American man, that is what you are," he said. Subsequently, Mitchell again claimed on Twitter the arrest of the police officers who killed Breonna Taylor in March, a nurse who was shot by agents who broke into his apartment as part of an operation to capture a suspect who was already detained.

 

Zion was on time to duel against the Jazz after dropping the bubble for a family matter, but he couldn't do enough to beat Utah, a more compact team than the Pelicans, who are still struggling to get into the Playoffs. Jordan Clarkson scored 23 points, while Donovan Mitchell went to 20 to lead the Salt Lake City side in a tight victory (104-106). Williamson stayed on just 13 points, away from Brandon Ingram's 23, New Orleans' top scorer.

 

In the second matchup of the night, LeBron James and Anthony Davis outplayed the Clippers of Paul George and Kawhi Leonard in an announcement of what the Western Conference final could be. James scored the winning basket in the closing seconds, on an even scoreboard even though the Lakers came to have a nine-point lead in the final minutes (96-87). George had the option to score the triple final, but he missed and the purple and gold men took the victory (103-101).

 

LeBron finished the game with 16 points, eleven rebounds and seven assists, while Anthony Davis, the team leader for most of the game, made it to 34 points and eight rebounds. In the Clippers, 30 points from Paul George and 28 from Kawhi Leonard, insufficient to beat their maximum rivals.