NBA, MLB games postponed in protest against Wisconsin shooting

Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Aug 26 (efe-epa).- The NBA postponed three playoff games set for Wednesday after the Milwaukee Bucks refused to take the court against to protest the police shooting of a Black man in the team’s home state of Wisconsin.

“The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association today announced that in light of the Milwaukee Bucks’ decision to not take the floor today for Game 5 against the Orlando Magic, today’s three games – Bucks vs. Magic, Houston Rockets vs. Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Lakers vs. Portland Trail Blazers – have been postponed,” the league said in a statement.

“Game 5 of each series will be rescheduled,” the NBA said.

The Bucks, led by Giannis Antetokounmpo, lead the Magic by three games to one and were poised to end the series with a victory Wednesday at Disney World in Orlando.

But the players voted unanimously to boycott the game as a protest over last Sunday’s shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, 40mi (64km) south of Milwaukee.

Blake, 29, remains hospitalized in critical condition after being shot seven times by police as he tried to get in his vehicle. The family and their attorneys say it is unlikely he will ever be able to walk again.

“We’re tired of the killings and the injustice,” Bucks guard George Hill told ESPN Wednesday from the NBA bubble in Orlando.

“Some things are bigger than basketball,” Bucks senior vice president Alex Lasry wrote on Twitter, and the Magic supported the league’s decision to postpone.

“Today we 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 Orlando Magic said in a statement.

Back in Milwaukee, the city’s Major League Baseball team, the Brewers, likewise decided to put off their game scheduled for Wednesday night in solidarity with protests against Blake’s shooting.

“Our team and the Reds felt that with our community and our nation in such pain, tonight we wanted 100 percent of the focus to be on issues that are much more important than baseball,” Brewers relief pitcher Brent Suter said in comments cited by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that a game scheduled for Wednesday between the host Padres and the Seattle Mariners was also postponed.

Seattle has the largest number of Black players of any MLB squad.

EFE

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