The Los Angeles Clippers fell to the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night, but one of the main takeaways from the night wasn't about the game itself. In continuing to bring awareness and reminders to George Floyd's death, social injustice, and the Black Lives Matter movement around the country, head coach Doc Rivers made an excellent point in his postgame interview.
Following his answers about the game and kneeling for the national anthem, Rivers said his knee was hurting after two minutes. The first thing he thought of was how former police officer Derek Chauvin had his knee on the neck of George Floyd for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, killing him in the process.
“The hardest part of the game for me was the kneeling for 2 minutes,” Rivers said postgame. “In 2 minutes my knee is hurting, yet there was a guy who had his knee on someone’s neck for 8 minutes … That’s nuts when you think about it.”
Clippers’ Doc Rivers closed his media session with this:
“The hardest part of the game for me was the kneeling for 2 minutes. In 2 minutes my knee is hurting, yet there was a guy who had his knee on someone’s neck for 8 minutes… That’s nuts when you think about it.” pic.twitter.com/3g7OVwRkZU
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) July 31, 2020
All NBA teams that played Thursday unveiled their new jerseys with statements on the back of most of them. Messages such as “Education Reform,” “Black Lives Matter,” “Equality,” and “Enough” were seen across the backs of NBA players.
“I think what happened today was just phenomenal for the NBA,” added Rivers. “Like, we need this. It's crazy how many texts I got today just saying thank you. I've never had a text before a game that said thank you for playing. I had tons of them.
“So just really happy and proud of our league and all the things they're doing. It was great.”
The Clippers' next matchup comes on Saturday against the New Orleans Pelicans. It'll be the first time all season that the Clippers take on Zion Williamson, though it doesn't look like he'll be playing much.
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