Blackballed (2020) - full transcript
The cultural context of race in America through the lens of one of the most explosive events in recent sports history.
- [stuttering] What was crazy to me was
we left the meeting and decided
we were gonna play... [inhales sharply]
We're leaving out of the breakfast room,
and right before
you get to the elevators...
Sterling's in the lobby right there.
I bullshit you not.
Standing right there, like,
"Hey, guys, how are you?
Are you ready to play tonight?
Are you ready?"
I'm, like, "Man, what the fuck is this guy
doing in here? This is--"
That's how I knew that something
was wrong with him because...
I don't even think this dude knows
what he said was fucked up.
♪
♪
- COMMENTATOR: Welcome to Oakland,
California, Oracle Arena.
The LA Clippers
and the Golden State Warriors.
It's game four!
♪
- RIVERS: Before the game,
what happened was nuts.
Our PR guy walks in, he said,
"I have a crisis."
And I said, "You mean more than
the one we have?"
He said, "No.
Donald's coming to the game."
I said, "Pardon me."
He said, "Donald just landed.
He's in the car with Andy Roeser.
And he's on his way to the game."
- Game four. The big thing I remember was,
was Donald Sterling gonna show up?
Because he was in San Francisco.
Was he gonna go and sit courtside?
Like, it was wild.
- RIVERS: I'm on a cellphone
screaming and yelling,
and going back and forth.
And I'm just saying, "You cannot--"
His seats, I noticed,
were right across from our bench.
But there were so many things...
nothing was about the Warriors.
- We... collectively
were not focused on that game.
And really, the focus was
making a statement.
- DEANDRE: We honestly didn't wanna
represent the Clippers.
We didn't wanna represent that name.
We wanted to represent
the 14 guys on that team. That's it.
- We knew we had to show
that we were united as a team...
but still let everyone else know
we understand the magnitude
of what's going on.
You know, what can we do as a team
to show the country that we're with them.
I don't know if it was in the locker
room when I came up with it...
but we came up with it at some point,
you know, when I said it
and everyone was down for it.
Everyone went with it.
[indistinct chanting]
- WOIKE: Somebody on the team told me,
"Just make sure you're
on the court for warm-ups."
"If you wanna see what we're gonna do,
make sure you're on the court
for the warm-ups."
- CROWD: [roaring]
- COMMENTATOR 1: Well, I'll tell you,
we just watched the Clippers
come on the floor.
The Clippers players met at mid-court,
took off their warm-up tops
with the Clipper name on it.
They now have t-shirts on
over their uniforms.
But the t-shirts are turned inside-out.
- COMMENTATOR 2: They're not playing
for the Clipper organization today.
They are playing for Doc Rivers,
and they're playing
for each other as a group.
- It was powerful.
No, it was subtle but it was powerful.
And it goes back to that--
"You know, we're not playing--
We're not playing for you."
It was a fuck you.
- DEANDRE: I felt-- I mean, honestly,
it wasn't enough.
But for us, it was something
to let anybody and everybody know
that we weren't okay with this.
And we didn't represent that,
we didn't condone it,
we weren't backing it.
We were backing each other...
and that was it.
- When the players
had their jerseys inside out
it reminded me of John Carlos
and Tommie Smith.
You had this new generation
of athletes saying,
"Wait a minute. This history matters.
And we stand in the tradition
of people like Muhammad Ali,
like Tommie Smith, like John Carlos."
It brought back
that what they were fighting
was something that was still with us.
- It's difficult to be part of something
and at the same time protest against it.
That's a difficult position.
So I understood all of the dynamics
they were going though.
But social injustice
was bigger than basketball.
It's bigger than anything in this sport,
at that moment.
- MORRIS: I just wanna think that it was
not incumbent upon those players
to really do more than they did.
I mean, somebody could have
taken the jersey, set it on fire,
and be like, "Fuck this shit,
I'm not playing until this dude is gone!"
But that's not their job.
That's the league's job.
- SILVER: I was in the stands
at the time they came out
and had turned their warm-ups around.
And I respected them for doing that.
I think they found a symbol
that didn't interfere in any way
with the operation of the game...
that didn't change
the competitive landscape in any way,
but was a clear indication
that something was different.
- RIVERS: I remember
walking out on the floor,
and I think it was like 40 seconds left...
uh, and the buzzer was about to go
to start the game.
I'm disheveled. I walk out, I really am.
My mind's-- [stuttering] I'm messed up.
'Cause I'm thinking, "Here he comes.
He's gonna come, he's gonna show up."
So I'm watching across
and Shelly Sterling walks in.
And I was panicked.
One of my coaches actually asked me,
"You good? Are you all right?
You seem... agitated."
And I just said, "No, I'm good.
We're all good. Everything's good.
We're good."
[chuckles] I did jokingly say,
"Well, we're gonna lose by 50 tonight."
[laughing]
- DEANDRE: I thought...
going into the game,
that, I'm like, "We need to go whoop
their ass or they're gonna whoop our ass.
It's not gonna be close. Either way."
[inhales deeply] And it wasn't.
- COMMENTATOR: It's a battle
between Blake Griffin--
Curry. Again! Another three-pointer.
He's four-for-four from downtown.
- We got our ass kicked in game four.
We got our ass kicked in game four!
- COMMENTATOR: Curry keeps his dribble
between the extra pass.
Curry from the corner.
Five-for-five from downtown!
- They beat the shit out of us.
[snickering]
We should've forfeited the game.
[laughing]
- COMMENTATOR: ...and an instinct
and IQ. Curry for three. It's good!
- WOIKE: It was like
they weren't even there.
The Clippers were emotionless, drained.
They looked like a group of guys
that had been forced to sit in a room
with bright white lights
for the past 48 hours.
They looked distracted. They looked human.
- COMMENTATOR: Now this best-of-seven
opening playoff series
is all tied at two games apiece.
- CROWD: [cheering]
- [buzzer going off]
- Andy didn't show up... or Donald.
Neither one of them showed up.
But I was right. We got destroyed.
[chuckling] I was right about that part.
- REPORTER: Doc says that he takes
all the blame for the result tonight,
and for anything
that might have distracted you
or turned the game
the way that it ended up.
What's your response to that?
- I mean, at the end of the day...
Doc can't score a basket.
And he can't stop Stephen Curry,
Klay Thompson or anybody like that.
You know, I don't think anything had to do
with the outcome of the game
but they beat us.
- RIVERS: There was no way, emotionally,
our guys could play in that game.
And, you know,
I was sitting in the third quarter,
writing notes... thinking about...
"I got 48 hours."
That's all I was thinking.
"I got 48 hours.
We're gonna win this series."
Uh, and now it was, for me,
it was, "We need to win this series.
Uh... we have to."
we left the meeting and decided
we were gonna play... [inhales sharply]
We're leaving out of the breakfast room,
and right before
you get to the elevators...
Sterling's in the lobby right there.
I bullshit you not.
Standing right there, like,
"Hey, guys, how are you?
Are you ready to play tonight?
Are you ready?"
I'm, like, "Man, what the fuck is this guy
doing in here? This is--"
That's how I knew that something
was wrong with him because...
I don't even think this dude knows
what he said was fucked up.
♪
♪
- COMMENTATOR: Welcome to Oakland,
California, Oracle Arena.
The LA Clippers
and the Golden State Warriors.
It's game four!
♪
- RIVERS: Before the game,
what happened was nuts.
Our PR guy walks in, he said,
"I have a crisis."
And I said, "You mean more than
the one we have?"
He said, "No.
Donald's coming to the game."
I said, "Pardon me."
He said, "Donald just landed.
He's in the car with Andy Roeser.
And he's on his way to the game."
- Game four. The big thing I remember was,
was Donald Sterling gonna show up?
Because he was in San Francisco.
Was he gonna go and sit courtside?
Like, it was wild.
- RIVERS: I'm on a cellphone
screaming and yelling,
and going back and forth.
And I'm just saying, "You cannot--"
His seats, I noticed,
were right across from our bench.
But there were so many things...
nothing was about the Warriors.
- We... collectively
were not focused on that game.
And really, the focus was
making a statement.
- DEANDRE: We honestly didn't wanna
represent the Clippers.
We didn't wanna represent that name.
We wanted to represent
the 14 guys on that team. That's it.
- We knew we had to show
that we were united as a team...
but still let everyone else know
we understand the magnitude
of what's going on.
You know, what can we do as a team
to show the country that we're with them.
I don't know if it was in the locker
room when I came up with it...
but we came up with it at some point,
you know, when I said it
and everyone was down for it.
Everyone went with it.
[indistinct chanting]
- WOIKE: Somebody on the team told me,
"Just make sure you're
on the court for warm-ups."
"If you wanna see what we're gonna do,
make sure you're on the court
for the warm-ups."
- CROWD: [roaring]
- COMMENTATOR 1: Well, I'll tell you,
we just watched the Clippers
come on the floor.
The Clippers players met at mid-court,
took off their warm-up tops
with the Clipper name on it.
They now have t-shirts on
over their uniforms.
But the t-shirts are turned inside-out.
- COMMENTATOR 2: They're not playing
for the Clipper organization today.
They are playing for Doc Rivers,
and they're playing
for each other as a group.
- It was powerful.
No, it was subtle but it was powerful.
And it goes back to that--
"You know, we're not playing--
We're not playing for you."
It was a fuck you.
- DEANDRE: I felt-- I mean, honestly,
it wasn't enough.
But for us, it was something
to let anybody and everybody know
that we weren't okay with this.
And we didn't represent that,
we didn't condone it,
we weren't backing it.
We were backing each other...
and that was it.
- When the players
had their jerseys inside out
it reminded me of John Carlos
and Tommie Smith.
You had this new generation
of athletes saying,
"Wait a minute. This history matters.
And we stand in the tradition
of people like Muhammad Ali,
like Tommie Smith, like John Carlos."
It brought back
that what they were fighting
was something that was still with us.
- It's difficult to be part of something
and at the same time protest against it.
That's a difficult position.
So I understood all of the dynamics
they were going though.
But social injustice
was bigger than basketball.
It's bigger than anything in this sport,
at that moment.
- MORRIS: I just wanna think that it was
not incumbent upon those players
to really do more than they did.
I mean, somebody could have
taken the jersey, set it on fire,
and be like, "Fuck this shit,
I'm not playing until this dude is gone!"
But that's not their job.
That's the league's job.
- SILVER: I was in the stands
at the time they came out
and had turned their warm-ups around.
And I respected them for doing that.
I think they found a symbol
that didn't interfere in any way
with the operation of the game...
that didn't change
the competitive landscape in any way,
but was a clear indication
that something was different.
- RIVERS: I remember
walking out on the floor,
and I think it was like 40 seconds left...
uh, and the buzzer was about to go
to start the game.
I'm disheveled. I walk out, I really am.
My mind's-- [stuttering] I'm messed up.
'Cause I'm thinking, "Here he comes.
He's gonna come, he's gonna show up."
So I'm watching across
and Shelly Sterling walks in.
And I was panicked.
One of my coaches actually asked me,
"You good? Are you all right?
You seem... agitated."
And I just said, "No, I'm good.
We're all good. Everything's good.
We're good."
[chuckles] I did jokingly say,
"Well, we're gonna lose by 50 tonight."
[laughing]
- DEANDRE: I thought...
going into the game,
that, I'm like, "We need to go whoop
their ass or they're gonna whoop our ass.
It's not gonna be close. Either way."
[inhales deeply] And it wasn't.
- COMMENTATOR: It's a battle
between Blake Griffin--
Curry. Again! Another three-pointer.
He's four-for-four from downtown.
- We got our ass kicked in game four.
We got our ass kicked in game four!
- COMMENTATOR: Curry keeps his dribble
between the extra pass.
Curry from the corner.
Five-for-five from downtown!
- They beat the shit out of us.
[snickering]
We should've forfeited the game.
[laughing]
- COMMENTATOR: ...and an instinct
and IQ. Curry for three. It's good!
- WOIKE: It was like
they weren't even there.
The Clippers were emotionless, drained.
They looked like a group of guys
that had been forced to sit in a room
with bright white lights
for the past 48 hours.
They looked distracted. They looked human.
- COMMENTATOR: Now this best-of-seven
opening playoff series
is all tied at two games apiece.
- CROWD: [cheering]
- [buzzer going off]
- Andy didn't show up... or Donald.
Neither one of them showed up.
But I was right. We got destroyed.
[chuckling] I was right about that part.
- REPORTER: Doc says that he takes
all the blame for the result tonight,
and for anything
that might have distracted you
or turned the game
the way that it ended up.
What's your response to that?
- I mean, at the end of the day...
Doc can't score a basket.
And he can't stop Stephen Curry,
Klay Thompson or anybody like that.
You know, I don't think anything had to do
with the outcome of the game
but they beat us.
- RIVERS: There was no way, emotionally,
our guys could play in that game.
And, you know,
I was sitting in the third quarter,
writing notes... thinking about...
"I got 48 hours."
That's all I was thinking.
"I got 48 hours.
We're gonna win this series."
Uh, and now it was, for me,
it was, "We need to win this series.
Uh... we have to."