The Milwaukee Bucks shocked everyone yesterday when they refused to take the floor in Game 5 of their first-round playoff match-up with the Orlando Magic. It was a collective effort in protesting the shooting of Jacob Blake, who was shot by Wisconsin police officers during an arrest.
The protest ultimately led to the NBA postponing the contest and the two other playoff games scheduled on the day (Game 5 of the OKC-HOU and Game 5 of LAL-POR). It escalated further as the teams met and saw the Los Angeles Lakers and LA Clippers voting that they boycott the remainder of the season.
Thankfully, about 30-plus hours later, which featured an in-depth players-owners meeting, it looks like the delay will only last three days. According to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, the NBA may resume on Sunday, likely continuing the schedule that got halted.
“The NBA season, including the Rockets’ first-round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, will resume Saturday on the NBA’s Central Florida campus, a person with knowledge of the NBA plans said on Thursday.”
It has truly been an insane 2019-20 season, and it deserves a lengthy documentary, maybe even a docuseries.
As crazy as it may seem, though, the playoff shutdown was not really the NBA’s first. There were two other instances where the league opted to postpone a playoff game, and both were about racial issues too.
1968 Eastern Conference Finals – Boston Celtics vs. Philadelphia 76ers
The civil rights movement in America was at its peak in the 1960s, and it was just as intense in 1968. It took a very tragic turn on April 4th when civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, was assassinated in his hotel room in Memphis, Tennessee.
The East Finals between the Celtics and Sixers were scheduled to kick-off the next day. The country was so devastated that Celtics great Bill Russell had to call his Sixers counterpart, Wilt Chamberlain, about a plan to move forward.
Game 1 eventually pushed through as scheduled, but Game 2 got bumped as then-US president Lyndon B. Johnson announced a day of mourning to honor Dr. King.
The series continued after that and the Celtics went on to win the series. Boston then beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the finals to capture their 10th championship in 12 years.
1992 Western Conference First Round – Portland Trail Blazers vs. Los Angeles Lakers
On March 3, 1991, four Los Angeles Police Department officers were videotaped beating an unarmed man into the ground. The victim, Rodney King, survived the incident, but the civilian who had the footage immediately sent the video to a local TV station.
It became headline news, charges were filed against the officers, and the case was sent to the court. On April 29, 1992, however, the jury acquitted all four policemen. The backlash was enormous as riots ensued across L.A., where gangs were already rampant even prior to King’s case.
At that time, the NBA playoffs were midway into the first round, including the Blazers-Lakers match-up. As the police continued to struggle to contain the chaos, the Lakers eventually had to relocate their home games to Las Vegas’s Thomas and Mack Center to finish the series.
Here’s then-Lakers general Jerry West recounting the scary circumstances in LA in April and May of 1992.
“It really was pretty scary. … I don’t think unless you had been there you can fully comprehend the importance and severity of it all. It wasn’t a pleasant time for the people in the city of Los Angeles. That night we were concerned about the safety of our fans and players because everyone was so angry.”
The two only played one game in Las Vegas together as the Lakers lost the elimination game, 102-76, to drop the best-of-five series, 3-1. It was their first opening round exit since 1982.
