OAKLAND, Calif.
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Enroth Jersey . -- The Los Angeles Clippers chose not to speak publicly
about owner Donald Sterling before they faced the Golden State Warriors for Game
4 of their first-round series Sunday. Instead, they made a silent protest to
generate attention. In response to Sterlings purported comments urging a woman
to not bring black people to his teams games, the Clippers let their uniforms
become a show of solidarity. They ran out of the tunnel wearing their usual
warmups. Then they huddled at centre court and tossed the outer layer of their
warmups to the ground, going through their pregame routine with their red
Clippers shirts on inside out to hide the teams logo. Players also wore black
wristbands or armbands during the game, which they lost 118-97. They also donned
black socks with their normal jerseys. "Its just us, only us. Were all we got,"
Clippers point guard Chris Paul could be heard shouting to teammates before they
ran out. The Warriors announced sellout crowd of 19,596, decked out in gold
shirts, booed the Clippers -- as they always do -- during team introductions.
Sterlings wife was sitting courtside across from the Clippers bench.
Commissioner Adam Silver had said Donald Sterling would not be at the game.
Clippers coach Doc Rivers said prior to the game that he would remain the only
one to speak for the team on the issue because players wanted to remain focused
on basketball. Afterward, Rivers said he knew what his players had planned but
didnt voice his opinion. Rivers said he wasnt thrilled about the demonstration,
though he didnt elaborate why. Even he, though, acknowledged that staying
focused has not been easy since TMZ released the alleged recording of Sterling.
"Our message is to play," Rivers said. "Our message is that were going to let no
one and nothing stop us from what we want to do. And I think thats a good
message. I really do. I think thats the message were trying to send. And if we
can pull this off all the way, I think that would be a terrific message." In an
overcrowded postgame locker room, most of the Clippers players deflected comment
or refused to answer questions related to Sterling -- other than to say they
remain united and focused on basketball. Shooting guard J.J. Redick, who is
white, said the controversy has impacted everybody on the team and around the
league. He also admitted it might have affected their preparation. "Maybe our
focus wasnt in the right place would be the easiest way to say it," Redick said.
"I didnt get the sense that we couldnt function. I thought we competed, but give
them a lot of credit as well. It wasnt just the distraction of everything that
has happened in the last 24 hours. Golden State played a great basketball game,
lets keep that in mind." While the Clippers wanted to let their play do the
talking, other NBA players continued to speak out on the subject. Some talked
about the hurt Sterlings alleged words caused. Others urged Silver to take an
aggressive stance against Sterling, who has a history of alleged discrimination.
Most of them hoped Sterling would be removed as the teams owner someday soon.
Miami Heat star LeBron James said Silver needed to take action, going so far as
to suggest "there is no room for Donald Sterling in our league." Lakers star
Kobe Bryant wrote on his Twitter page that he couldnt play for Sterling.
Warriors coach Mark Jackson, who played for the Clippers from 1992-94, said he
could forgive Sterling but couldnt play for him right now, either. Asked if he
needed to hear something from the league or Sterling to return as coach next
year, Rivers said he didnt know and that he was just concentrating on the
playoff series. At the Trail Blazers playoff game against the Houston Rockets on
Sunday night, Portland players all wore black socks in solidarity with the
Clippers players. "I wanted to do something to support our brothers," Blazers
All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge said before the game in Portland. The players
union, still without an executive director since firing Billy Hunter in February
2013, is following the situation closely. The union has asked former NBA
All-Star and current Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson to take a leading role on
the players behalf to address the Sterling matter. Johnson and Silver attended
the game Sunday. Johnson said he called an emergency phone meeting of every
player representative to the union Saturday night and spoke with Silver before
the game. He said this is a "defining moment" for the NBA and for Silver.
Johnson said players trust that the commissioner will meet their demands, which
include: Sterling not attend any NBA games for the rest of the playoffs; a full
account of past allegations of discrimination by Sterling and why the league
never sanctioned him; the range of options that the league can penalize
Sterling, including the maximum penalty, which players want if the audio
recording is validated; assurance that the NBA and the union will be partners in
the investigation; and an immediate and decisive ruling, hopefully before the
Clippers host the Warriors for Game 5 on Tuesday night in Los Angeles. Johnson
also said there will be no league-wide protest by players or a boycott because
theres enough attention on the issue already and that players "trust Adam
Silver. They trust that Adam Silver will do the right thing."
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which traditionally goes to the Stanley Cup winner. "Thats our goal.
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West-leading San Francisco opened a 10-game homestand Monday night with the
first of three games against second-place Arizona.When the Carolina Hurricanes
went into the 2002 playoffs, they didnt necessarily think they were Stanley Cup
contenders. Then Paul Maurice worked his magic behind the bench. "We could feel
it within our room, we could feel it on our bench, we could feel it on our
plane" former Carolina goaltender Kevin Weekes said. "And we knew that we were a
prepared group, we knew that we were a committed group, we knew we were a group
that believed, and Coach Maurice went a long way in creating that atmosphere."
Maurice got that group to the Cup final as part of an impressive tenure in
Carolina. Almost 12 years after that run, Maurice on Sunday replaced Claude Noel
as coach of the Winnipeg Jets, and a handful of his former Hurricanes players
consider it a good fit based on what he did for them. "I think hes a very
underrated coach," said Hall of Famer and former Carolina captain Ron Francis,
who also worked as an assistant under Maurice. "Hes a very bright guy, hes good
at assessing the talent he has and then structuring the system that he believes
will get the most out of the lineup that he has on a game-in, game-out basis."
Maurice has his fair share of issues to deal with to fix what ails the Jets, who
are 10 points out of the Western Conferences final playoff spot after losing
five in a row. "I would imagine the strategy for him, hed be a little bit of a
detective going in there," said Jeff ONeill who played for Maurice in Carolina
and Toronto. "Hes going to find out what the problems are and hes going to
address the issues. And thats probably the first order of business." Its not
exactly new business, either. When Maurice became Whalers coach early in the
1995-96 season, he inherited a Hartford team that missed the playoffs in each of
the past three years. The Jets missed the playoffs in their first two seasons in
Winnipeg and havent made it since 2006-07 as the Atlanta Thrashers. At least its
a familiar challenge for Maurice. "It almost works in his favour that this is
not a new situation for him," said former defenceman Aaron Ward. "Hes never
really walked into a situation where hes had a cupboard full of unbelievable
talent." Winnipeg doesnt have unbelievable talent, but theres a core in place
beginning with captain Andrew Ladd, U.S. Olympian Blake Wheeler, Evander Kane
and Dustin Byfuglien. Those early Whalers teams were led by Geoff Sanderson,
Andrew Cassels and Keith Primeau. Maurice didnt turn things around right away,
but by the second season of the Hurricanes after the move to North Carolina,
they were in the playoffs thanks to contributions from Primeau, Sami Kapanen,
Francis and goaltender Arturs Irbe. The 2002 run to the Cup final was Maurices
most memorable achievement, taking an unheralded group led by Francis and
Rod BrindAmour to within three victories of knocking off the talent-rich Detroit
Red Wings. Even today, Francis wondered what wouldve happened if Carolina didnt
lost Game 3 in triple overtime. "I think he just had the guys believing that we
were capable of doing it," said Francis, whos now vice president of hockey
operations for the Hurricanes. "We kept everything sort of simple and the focus
on the direction it needed to be kept on, and as a result you had a team that
believes in itself, believes in each other and some may say overachieved, but
not according to the guys in that locker room or the coaching staff. We
certainly believed we belonged right to the end." Maurice isnt the same man he
was when he got his first NHL head-coaching job at the age of 28 or even the
same from 2002. Maurice has coached 1,084 games with the Whalers, Hurricanes and
Toronto Maple Leafs and isnt a fresh-faced youngster anymore. "Obviously he
knows what works and wwhat doesnt work now," ONeill said.
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Phaneuf Maple Leafs Jersey. "I think maybe when he was younger he thought
he had to be a hard ass all the time for guys to kind of buy in and believe it,
and then later on the message didnt have to be that because he was established,
he had coached so many games." Maurice is 46 now, armed with experience from
coaching Metallurg in Russias Kontinental Hockey League and doing some
television analysis. Francis worked on Maurices staff in 2009-10 and 2010-11 and
saw how he matured and changed over time. Francis has no doubt Maurice has
adjusted with a changing league. "Hes very bright, hes a good student of the
game and hes watching whats happening and how things are evolving," Francis
said. "He incorporates that into his game plan and his systems. Theres no
question he doesnt get stuck on one particular thing but more or less moves with
the times." Times now are about youth, as Weekes pointed out the NHL has never
been younger. Maurice will be charged with figuring out how to best use
defenceman Jacob Trouba, centre Mark Scheifele and others in the pipeline in
Winnipeg. Based on what Maurice did at the junior level, including winning the
1995 OHL title with the Detroit Jr. Red Wings, and how much he accomplished with
the Hurricanes, his former players know where his strengths lie. Most notably,
he can maximize the talent at his disposal. "Its one thing to coach somebody up,
its another thing to just coach and its another thing to coach somebody down,"
Weekes said. "Paul Maurice is somebody that Ive seen, and one of the few that
Ive seen as a head coach in my time, that coached you up." If the Jets hope to
make up a substantial deficit to get back into contention this season or at
least make strides for the future, itll be up to Maurice to coach up like he did
in Carolina. That job starts with creating an identity for a team that has been
lacking one. Those Hurricanes teams are a nice blue print. "I think its a team
that works extremely hard," Francis said. "I think its a team that tries to be
very solid in its own end and then try to get in on the forecheck as quickly and
as aggressively as possible. Those are some of the trademarks that he really
liked to incorporate into his team." Personal relationships also are a trademark
of Maurices coaching. Weekes said Maurice knew how to treat players as players
and as people, and Francis lauded his "open-door policy," which could benefit
Ladd. "At any point as a captain, if I wanted to walk in and have a conversation
with him, I felt comfortable doing that," Francis said. "We could talk about
everything from my individual game to team concepts and systems or strengths and
weaknesses and how to adjust things. And it was no different being a part of the
coaching staff. He gave everybody a voice. Youre allowed to kind of say your
piece and what you thought, and at the end of the day it was his job as head
coach to make the final decision. But he certainly gave you that opportunity to
express what you felt." Maurice certainly hasnt been perfect. During his 13 full
seasons as an NHL head coach, his teams made the playoffs five times and missed
eight. But Weekes, who was part of just one Maurice-led playoff team, praised
him as "hands-down" the best coach he ever played for. "He set the right tone
with the staff, certainly with all of our players, and for the most part youd
have to say he put all of us in a position to succeed," Weekes said. "Everything
was structured, our work ethic as a team was through the roof, and I think that
really reflected our coaches, starting with Coach Maurice, just in terms of the
preparation, the practice detail, the tempo -- us doing all the little things
that it took the be successful."
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