LA Clippers vs Golden State Warriors game seven starts tonight. Tip off for the decisive game of the Warriors vs Clippers series is at 10:30 Eastern Standard Time (that’s 7:30 for these teams’ actual fans on the West Coast).
As even the most causal basketball fan knows, this series has been overshadowed by the controversy surrounding allegedly racist comments made by the LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling to his young girlfriend , asking her to stop bringing black people to his basketball games. The NBA’s reaction was swift and decisive , banning Donald Sterling from the NBA for life. In turn, Sterling is suing the NBA . It remains to be see whether they will be able to force sterling to sell the Clippers, but that is the stated intention of the NBA’s top brass.
Not everyone is on board with the punishments the NBA has handed down as the Clippers vs Warriors series heads to game 7. People as diverse as Donald Trump , Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and fellow NBA team owner Mark Cuban have voiced varying degrees of support for Sterling or concern with the NBA and the media in this situation. but the overall sentiment seems to be against Sterling. Celebrities from Magic Johnson to Oprah Winfrey have offered to buy the LA Clippers. Pundits like Al Sharpton have weighed in, praising the NBA’s handling of the situation. Even President of the United States Barack Obama has tossed out his opinion on Donald Sterling – who was scheduled to receive an award from the NAACP (a situation that led the local head of the NAACP to resign ) and has a history of campaign donations to Democrat candidates .
With all of the political undertones, let’s hope that fans can just get back to basketball and enjoy an exciting game 7 between two teams that are hungry to advance in the NBA playoffs and to compete for a championship. This NBC Sports report may be one of the few previews that doesn’t mention the spectacle of Donald Sterling’s debacle and how it overshadows the Clippers vs Warriors series.
What do you think? Should people be focusing on the Donald Sterling situation and should that have any effect on who they pull for during tonight’s Warriors vs Clippers game 7?
Regardless of who you pull for or why, this is the deciding game in a best-of-seven series and you won’t want to miss it. You can watch all of the action in tonight’s Clippers vs Warriors game 7 streaming online live here or here .