– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BOSTON — The fact that today’s game inside TD Garden did not feature two of the mega stars of the NBA of today, Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks and Jayson Tatum of the Celtics, also, in a way, allowed many watching on to think about the trail blazing Black men of yesteryear who paved the way for the likes of Giannis and J.T. and multiple generations of superstars who eventually turned the sport into the global phenomenon that is today.
Today is the first day of Black History Month, and the NBA started its month-long celebration of it by hosting the inaugural NBA Pioneers Classic, celebrating the 75th anniversary of the league’s first Black players. Family members of the three men who broke the league’s color barrier — Chuck Cooper (drafted by the Celtics in April 1950), Earl Lloyd and Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton — were in attendance as part of a pre-game ceremony, capped off by a message of thanks on the public address by current Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown right before tip-off.
The head coaching match-up, Doc Rivers of the Bucks and Joe Mazzulla of the Celtics, pitted two of the seven Black head coaches who have won NBA championships from the sidelines, and like so many other sports figures throughout the decades who used their platforms to highlight the on-going struggle for civil rights and speaking out against injustice, Rivers did so again after today’s contest, a 107-79 win for Boston, on the backdrop of the civil unrest involving the tactics used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers on the citizens of Minneapolis, which has included the killing of multiple American citizens in the area over the past month.
“In the political environment we are in at this time where Black history is being whitewashed with the removing of Black war heroes, civil rights leaders from our books, and our kids not being taught about the atrocities of slavery, lynchings, Jim Crow and redlining, our league has decided to stand up and teach our young players and everyone the true history of our league, Rivers said. “Bravo, NBA.”
On the court, Brown led all scorers with 30 points, while Anfernee Simons poured in 27 points — including six three-pointers — coming off the bench. Ryan Rollins led the Bucks with 25 as Antetokounmpo missed his third consecutive game with a calf injury.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday afternoon’s game, with photos taken by ALOST photo editor Erica Denhoff. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 27 pictures in total.
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