A momentary first night for the NBA

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – When his Zoom interview ended after the game, before he triumphed out on the team bus, Utah Jazz’s Rudy Gobert acknowledged that the historic play he was savoring did not go exactly as planned.

“You weren’t supposed to get a publication,” Gobert said. “I was supposed to get a dunk.”

After using a Donovan Mitchell screen to break free, finally cornering a deflected pass and then turning to the baseline against former teammate Derrick Favors, Gobert dropped the ball right on Favors in the first 20 seconds on Thursday by the night. Gobert’s brief nod that followed seemed to acknowledge the importance of the score.

What Gobert finally got was a layup that will record as the first NBA basket in July to count. He scored the first two points and the last two points in Utah’s 106-104 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans, the NBA’s first restart game at Walt Disney World, 141 days after Gobert’s positive coronavirus test March 11 will lead to indefinite suspension of the season

“Life works in a mysterious way,” said Gobert.

That opening sequence and his free throws, like a simple 62.1 percent free kick, helped make it a redemptive night for Gobert, shortly after a stirring social justice protest, in a fanless but unit-packed arena and purpose. A momentous occasion with many layers for the entire league.

For more than four minutes before the Jazz and Pelicans reported, the players, coaches, and staff members of both teams, along with the referees, congregated side by side, stretching from baseline to baseline. . They gathered near the BLACK LIVES MATTER letters pinned to the floor near the scorer’s table at each of the three gaming venues at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, then knelt in unison during the performance of the recorded national anthem by Jon Baptiste.

The Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers, co-tenants of the Staples Center and championship rivals, teamed up to do the same thing before their game, during a recorded performance of the anthem by the Compton Kidz Club of the Los Angeles area . LeBron James had just helped the Lakers score a 103-101 win with winning plays on both ends in the final 12.8 seconds when he told TNT in a post-game interview: “I hope our fans are proud of us.”

James was not talking about basketball. Nor was he referring to the official return of the league, after such a long absence imposed by the coronavirus, or to the hopeful beginning of the NBA’s efforts to erect a so-called bubble on the Disney campus (at a cost of at least $ 180 million) with for television scenarios and daily coronavirus tests. Like most of the players involved in Thursday’s doubleheader, James was touched by the unity displayed in his protest anthem.

“I hope he makes Kaep proud,” James said, referring to former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who has not played in the NFL since Jan. 1, 2107, after practicing in 2016 on his knees. during the hymn to protest racial injustice.

“I hope we continue to make Kaep proud every day,” said James.

JJ Redick of the Pelicans said: “The crowd of ‘sticking to sports’, keeping politics out of sports, all of those things, now make no sense. You can’t. Politics and sport coexist now, and the league has recognized it. “

Indeed. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver attended the two games Thursday night, wearing a blue hat and peering from above the floor at the Plexiglass from both the HP Field House (Jazz-Pelicans) and Arena ( Lakers-Clippers) because no, however, they have been quarantined, and therefore cannot be around any of the approximately 1,500 inhabitants of the league bubble. Silver, however, issued a statement stating that the league will not enforce its old rule, which dates back to 1981, which requires all team personnel to defend the national anthem in a “dignified posture” along a sideline. or the foul line.

“I respect the unified act of peaceful protest by our teams for social justice and, in these unique circumstances, I will not enforce our old rule that requires us to remain during the execution of our national anthem,” said Silver.

The commissioner had a lot to do. The games were played in two different gyms so Turner could stream them consecutively without waiting for a disinfection delay. The Jazz nullified a 16-point deficit in front of virtual “home team” pelican fans, and James followed a rebounding basket with a decisive defense against Kawhi Leonard and Paul George in the same possession in the closing seconds to take down the Short-hand clippers. Players wore Black Lives Matter jerseys during pregame warm-ups and many had social justice slogans on the back of their uniforms instead of their names: “Peace” for rookie Zion Williamson of New Orleans, “I am a man.” for Mike Conley of Utah, “Say your name” for Donovan Mitchell of Utah.

Mitchell went even further in his protest against systemic racism, entering the building wearing a bulletproof vest with the names of numerous victims of police brutality.

“The game was great, we won by two, but at the end of the day, Breonna Taylor’s killers are still free,” Mitchell said. “There are so many different things that we could honestly talk about. I will continue talking about Breonna Taylor because that is close and dear to me. “

Mitchell, of course, played collegiate in Louisville. On March 13, two days after Gobert’s positive coronavirus test resulted in NBA shutdown, Taylor was shot dead when police officers broke into his Louisville, Kentucky apartment with a no-touch order. that they used as part of a narcotics investigation.

In the much smaller picture of their Utah association, Mitchell, who also tested positive for the coronavirus in March, and Gobert went weeks without speaking. This was due in part to an infamous video clip of Gobert tapping a table full of reporters’ recording devices before realizing he had been infected, prompting many critics to claim he wasn’t treating the virus seriously, but then it emerged that tensions between two players had been bubbling for some time.

Tonight, Mitchell scored eight consecutive Utah points at the decisive moment, then made the crucial momentum and assist that prepared Gobert’s game-winning free throws. Gobert finished with 14 points, 12 rebounds, three blocked shots and a chance to reflect on the roller coaster of the past four months when the NBA was forced to sit idle.

“I am grateful to be back on the floor,” said Gobert. “Honestly, a lot has been said, a lot has happened, a lot is happening in the world right now. To be able to do what we love, to be able to do it at the highest level, in safe conditions, to have a positive impact on communities and to inspire millions of people and children around the world: it is really something that is bigger than just play. “