NBA Coach Refuses to Talk Ball, Shouts About Shooting

At a press conference ahead of game 4 of the Western Conference Finals, Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr refused to talk about the game. "I'm not going to talk about basketball," he began. "Nothing has happened with our team in the last six hours. ... Any basketball questions don't matter." But "400 miles away," something had occurred that he did want to talk about: the Uvalde school shooting and US gun violence. CNBC describes him as "visibly angry and shaken" as he spoke. CNN notes he has a personal connection with gun violence: His father was killed by gunman in 1984 while working as the president of the American University of Beirut. Standout lines:

• "In the last 10 days, we've had elderly Black people killed in a supermarket in Buffalo, we've had Asian churchgoers killed in Southern California, now we have children murdered at school," he said, his voice then rising to a shout: "When are we going to do something? I'm tired. I'm so tired of getting up here and offering condolences to the devastated families that are out there ... I'm sorry, I'm tired of the moments of silence. Enough."

• "There's 50 Senators right now who refuse to vote on HR 8, which is a background check rule that the House passed a couple years ago. It's been sitting there for two years. And there's a reason they won't vote on it: to hold onto power." He directed this line to Mitch McConnell and other senators who "refuse to do anything" about the shootings: "Are you going to put your own desire for power ahead of the lives of our children and our elderly and our churchgoers, because that's what it looks like." CNBC notes it would need 60 votes to pass.
• "We're going to play the game tonight. But I want every person here, every person listening to this, to think about your own child or grandchild, mother or father, sister, brother. How would you feel if this happened to you today? We can't get numb to this."

The Dallas Mavericks notched their first win of the series, with a final score of 119-109. (More Golden State Warriors stories.)