Warriors, Celtics wear orange T-shirts pleading for gun control ahead of Game 2 of NBA Finals

Ryan Young
Updated
Warriors, Celtics wear orange T-shirts pleading for gun control ahead of Game 2 of NBA Finals

The Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics wore bright orange T-shirts on Sunday night ahead of Game 2 of the NBA Finals.

The message was clear.

“End Gun Violence.”

“We feel very strongly as a league that it’s time for people to take notice and to take part in what should be a nationwide effort to limit the gun violence that’s out there,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “There are ways to limit it, and there are proven laws that are waiting to be passed … There are things we can do that would not violate people’s Second Amendment rights but would save lives.”

Kerr has given this message multiple times throughout his career. He erupted earlier in the postseason after an 18-year-old shot and killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, a massacre that marked the deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook in 2012.

There have been 69 documented mass shootings in the United States over the past month, according to the Gun Violence Archive, and 11 this weekend alone. Mass shootings in Philadelphia and Chattanooga on Saturday night and Sunday morning left at least six dead.

“The awareness is really about things that are continuing to happen in our communities," Celtics head coach Ime Udoka said. "They’re devastated by it, their families are devastated and we can’t go on with our normal life and business … It continues to happen, so awareness and change needs to be made.”

Kerr closed out with a plea to Americans.

“The biggest thing I think is to vote,” he said. “What I understand is that a lot of races, congressional races that are out there, despite the fact that the majority of people in this country want gun safety measures put in place, a lot of those races are decided by people who aren’t so much for any kind of gun safety measures.

"People gotta vote. If you feel strongly about saving lives, possibly someone even in your own family, get out and vote.”

Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown before Game 2 against the Warriors
Celtics guard Jaylen Brown wears an "End Gun Violence" shirt before Game 2 against the Warriors on Sunday night. (AP/Jed Jacobsohn) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Gregg Popovich at rally: ‘Get off your ass! Do something!’

San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich took the stage at a rally in San Antonio on Saturday and urged supporters to push their politicians to make change.

Popovich, one of the most outspoken coaches in professional sports, spoke at the “Stand By Uvalde” rally in San Antonio Saturday. San Antonio sits about 90 minutes east of Uvalde.

Popovich also met with Beto O’Rourke, who is running against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in November, at the rally.

"I don't care if it's the [Texas Attorney General], the Lt. Governor, the Governor, or one of the Senators. Get them in a room and say, 'How many will it take? A massacre a month? Two massacres a week? Fifteen kids? Twenty-four kids? When we kill 74 sometime, then maybe you’ll do something?’" Popovich said. "Get off your ass! Do something!"

"They work for us. The majority of us want them to do something about the gun laws, and they don't do it because they care more about their power and their position and their money than they do our children.”

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