Unity.
That’s the message the Boston Celtics sent Tuesday night before their preseason opener against the Philadelphia 76ers at Mullins Center in Amherst, Mass.
Each and every Celtics coach and player locked arms as a sign of unity during the singing of the national anthem in a nod to the protest Colin Kaepernick started.
Celtics coaching staff also joined hands during tonight's anthem. Entire team was in on gesture. pic.twitter.com/5quzIrb7ll
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) October 4, 2016
Celtics join hands together during the national anthem tonight in Amherst pic.twitter.com/UJEIVc3PrM
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) October 4, 2016
Celtics crossing arms and holding hands during National Anthem in first preseason game of the season. pic.twitter.com/AcBXURUpKG
— Ben Rohrbach (@brohrbach) October 4, 2016
“We’ve had a lot of sit-down discussions about it,” Brad Stevens told reporters before the game, via Celtics.com. “We’ve had a lot of individual discussions. We’ve had three or four meetings with the team after practices; sometimes just the players, sometimes just us, sometimes people that we’ve invited in from the outside to spend time with our guys. Our guys have been incredibly thoughtful.”
Stevens added: “Like what I’ve seen across the NBA early on, I think our guys are really focused on promoting positive(ity), unity, togetherness, progress and all of those types of things. I think they’re very much into what I’ve seen from teams thus far, in talking about togetherness and continued progress.”
The team also posted a video titled “#Unity” after the anthem was over.
A message from our players on #unity. https://t.co/enT6DALs1b
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) October 4, 2016
The Celtics chose to lock hands just like the 1960-61 Celtics did during the Civil Rights Movement, CSNNE’s Abby Chin reported during the broadcast.
https://twitter.com/RedsArmy_Chuck/status/783444507127930880
Thumbnail photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images
