Sports
Milwaukee Bucks Lead Sports Boycott Over Jacob Blake Shooting
All Wednesday night NBA and WNBA playoff games were postponed along with a handful of games in other sports. Top NBA teams may end season.
ORLANDO, FL — The Milwaukee Bucks boycotted Wednesday's scheduled National Basketball Association playoff game over the police-related shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, and the league later announced all the evening's games would be canceled.
Following that announcement, the game scheduled between Major League Baseball's Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds was canceled. Players on the Seattle Mariners boycotted their Wednesday night game against the San Diego Padres. The Los Angeles Dodgers game against the San Francisco Giants also were postponed.
The WNBA canceled all of its games as did the Major League Soccer league.
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The Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers indicated they may boycott what's left of the playoffs altogether, but ESPN reported late Wednesday that a final decision had not been reached.
NBA owners will meet Thursday morning to discuss the future of the season, ESPN reported, adding that games scheduled for that night would also likely be postponed.
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The Bucks players did not take the court prior to Wednesday's scheduled Game 5 of the NBA Eastern Conference playoff series against the Orlando Magic, remaining in their locker room as game time approached.
The Magic players did take the floor, but left the court with about three minutes left before game time, ESPN's Malika Andrews reported.
In a team statement, the Magic said they "stand united with the NBA office, the National Basketball Players Association, the Milwaukee Bucks and the rest of the league condemning bigotry, racial injustice and the unwarranted use of violence by police against people of color."
The Milwaukee Bucks have decided to boycott Game 5, source tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 26, 2020
The Bucks, the team with the best record during the NBA regular season and the top seed in the Eastern Conference, lead the series with the eight-seeded Magic 3-1.
Three first-round series NBA Game Fives — the Milwaukee Bucks vs. the Orlando Magic, the Houston Rockets vs. Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers vs. Portland Trail Blazers — were also on the slate for the NBA's playoff bubble in Orlando. After a day of postponements, the Rockets-Thunder series stays tied 2-2 and the Lakers hold a 3-1 series lead on the Trail Blazers.
The basketballs for Bucks vs. Magic are being packed up. pic.twitter.com/BZWbazd4t8
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) August 26, 2020
Shortly after the Bucks' boycott decision, Lakers superstar LeBron James was among the first to hint that the next two NBA games on the schedule would be boycotted as well.
"We demand change," he wrote on Twitter. "Sick of it."
On the baseball diamond, the Brewers were the first to decide to boycott their Wednesday game. The Reds agreed to not play the game and neither team will be forced into a forfeit situation, according to Wall Street Journal baseball reporter Jared Diamond.
The Mariners, the MLB team with more Black players than any other, backed their players decision to sit out their tilt against the Padres.
"The Seattle Mariners respect the team's decision to not play tonight's game," the team said in a statement. "The Seattle Mariners stand with their players as they speak out with their words and actions against social injustice."
The Blake shooting led to civil unrest in the Kenosha community, some 40 miles south of Milwaukee and 65 miles north of Chicago, for the past three nights, including gunfire by someone in the crowds that killed two others and wounded a third.
Jacob Blake Coverage On Patch
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