The game between the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat came down to the wire, but tensions were no where near as high in AmericanAirlines Arena as they were in Washington D.C.
And before the Wednesday night tip-off, the crisis happening at our nation's capital weighed heavily on both teams.
The Celtics and Heat skipped warmups and walked off the court to the locker room together, and released a joint statement about the day's events after protestors stormed the Capitol building causing civil unrest around the country.
Ultimately, the game went on as scheduled, even to Brad Stevens' surprise.
"There wasn't really time when we were all here together to just sit and talk so we scrapped warmups, sat in the locker room and talked," the Celtics coach said in his postgame media availability.
"And to be honest, at 30 minutes(before tip-off) I didn't think we were playing. And then the coaches left the room, players finished talking chose to play. So, I mean, I called my wife and told her 'I don't think we're playing.' And then 10 minutes later we had decided to."
Stevens emphasized that had Boston or Miami players decided not to play, they would have full support from him, his coaching staff and the Celtics organization.
Ultimately, the show went on as the escape many needed desperately.
The Celtics defeated the Heat 107-105 at the last second, but Stevens took more about his team away from the locker room than the game.
"I just told the guys in the locker room, the things you remember about coaching is probably not the game, right? It's that locker room, 68 minutes before or whenever we all congregated," Stevens said. "I think that's what I'll remember most fondly when I'm done are those moments. Just the sharing of real thoughts and emotions, and then to be able to compartmentalize and play a game.
"They did a good job of going out there and playing under the circumstances. I don't know how they do it, I've said this forever in the NBA. When you're at the end of these road trips or back-to-backs, I don't know how they do it. These guys have an unbelievable ability to go out and play at an incredible level. It's remarkable, both teams."
So while the win was nice, basketball pales in comparison to the importance of everything else going on.
