All NBA playoff games postponed for second day in a row

Aug 27 2020, 4:18 pm

No games will be played in the NBA on Thursday for the second day in a row, as players continue to protest police violence against Black people.

Three playoff games were scheduled to be played today, including the start of the Toronto Raptors second-round series against the Boston Celtics. Pivotal Game 6 matchups between the Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz, as well as the Los Angeles Clippers and Dallas Mavericks have also been postponed.

Players have decided that they want to play again this season, according to top NBA insiders Adrian Wojnarowski and Shams Charania. The playoffs could resume as soon as Friday, Charania reports.

NBA players met Wednesday evening to decide the next course of action, with the Lakers and Clippers reportedly voting in favour of boycotting the rest of the season entirely.

The Milwaukee Bucks set off a chain reaction on Wednesday, after they walked off the court minutes before the start of their playoff game against the Orlando Magic. The Bucks play in Wisconsin, the same state that Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man, was shot seven times by police recently.

Not long after the Bucks’ decision not to play, players from each of the six teams that were supposed to compete on Wednesday announced that they would also boycott their games.

The boycotts spread to other leagues, notably the WNBA, which halted play. Three Major League Baseball games also weren’t played due to player-led boycotts. Five Major League Soccer matches were postponed, as was a WTA tennis tournament.

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