Wednesday was another dark day in American history as a large group of Donald Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. to protest the legislative branch formalizing the win for president-elect Joe Biden. It was a surreal scene as scores of protesters rushed into the building and did so without meeting heavy resistance from law enforcement.
Meanwhile, the Philadelphia 76ers had to play a basketball game which was tough to do with their minds occupied elsewhere, but coach Doc Rivers had a talk with them pregame to let them know that everything will be alright.
“I told them before the game, you don’t have the responsibility to talk,” said Rivers. “You don’t have a responsibility to get involved in politics, nor do you have the responsibility to get involved in this, but if you want to, you should. The only thing I always tell my guys is just don’t become the story. Things happened in DC that shouldn’t have happened. Let that be what we keep shining a light on. That’s something that we said that incited people to go after your words.”
It was important to get that out before the game started. It was obviously something that bothered a lot of people and it was something that had to be addressed.
“He’s just honest and upfront with us about everything,” said Seth Curry. “Basketball and stuff that’s going on off the floor. I think we all appreciate him addressing that elephant in the room and letting us know his feelings about it. He talked to us like men and we dealt with whatever we had to deal with and talk about whatever we had to talk about and get ready for the game. I think that’s great about a coach like Doc who understands the position that we’re in. There’s tough stuff going on, but we still have a job to do and you got to be able to handle both.”
The Sixers have players on the roster who have been involved in a lot of social justice issues. Tobias Harris, for example, was a huge component of their social justice message in the bubble in Orlando while the Black Lives Matter protests were going on over the summer. Matisse Thybulle has been huge in pushing people to vote during the presidential election.
Having a leader like Rivers around makes it easier to speak on these issues.
“He’s an amazing one,” said Harris. “I really appreciate his perspective, him talking to us before the game. I think of myself as a young black male in the world and especially for the younger guys to have a coach, but also an African American coach that is able to really talk about his experiences and give us that insight and knowledge that’s real key for their own growth and development in just life outside of basketball. I appreciate the words, he had to say before the game. It put things in perspective of, Hey, we’re here to play basketball, but also we have families. We have loved ones in this world, and we have a life too outside of this NBA. ”
This is not the first time Rivers has had to get a handle on something tough such as this. He was with the Los Angeles Clippers during the Donald Sterling saga in 2015 and he led the team through that adversity and he had to do the same in the bubble with them.
This was nothing new for him.
“He’s a great leader,” Curry added. “It’s why he’s one of the best coaches in the league. He’s comfortable being the head of the snake and addressing stuff head-on and that’s why we have so much respect for him in this locker room.”
It is great for the Sixers to have a leader like Rivers who can help them through tough situations such as this one. These are tough times for everybody and the hope is that the country can get better from this.
“For a lot of people, I think a lot of things changed for the better because of what happened, I really believe that,” Rivers added. “Hopefully, this is the first step to healing our country. This country needs to be healed. There’s no doubt about it. I’m hoping Joe Biden and Kamala (Harris) can do it because we need them. We need them to heal this country.”
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