BOSTON — Celtics interim head coach Joe Mazzulla began his pregame press conference Saturday not mentioning anything about Boston’s opponent that night in the Los Angeles Lakers.
Instead, Mazzulla gave a thoughtful response regarding Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old who died on Jan. 10 after being brutally beaten by five Memphis police officers. Those officers are now facing second-degree murder charges among other crimes.
Video footage of the incident was released Friday, which caused an uproar among those in the NBA community, including Lakers star LeBron James, and a day later Mazzulla got his opportunity to chime in.
“On behalf of the Celtics and my family in particular, I want to pray for Tyre Nichols’ soul. I’m praying for Mrs. Wells, her heart, her soul. I pray for their family in real prayer,” Mazzulla said. “Just praying for their grief and for their understanding of the situation, and to open up my heart.
“I do think there are multiple things. There’s a systemic issue, there’s a cultural issue, there’s a leadership issue. Bigger than that, there is an issue of this is a broken world. We live in a broken world where we don’t hold each other accountable enough for the simple things in life like love, respect, treating your neighbor the right way and loving your neighbor. And instead, we praise pride, we praise arrogance, we praise entitlement and we all feel like we can do whatever we want at times, and that’s not how this world works.
“So, our Celtics organization grieves for that. We pray for that. And it’s really important that we’re a representation of love and a representation of hope and taking care of the guy next to us. That’s what it’s all about.”
Lakers head coach Darvin Ham shared Mazzulla’s sentiment on the issue
“Our prayers and condolences go out to the Nichols family. God rest his soul,” Ham said. “It’s really an unfortunate situation. Tragic on every level. … Unfortunately, we live in a time where there’s supreme access to everything. There’s things you want to see and there’s things you don’t want to see. Either or, it’s right in your face. And to see that was bone-chilling.
“It just shows that we need to continue the process of trying to correct people who are put in the position to protect and serve and maintain peace. Not to harass or intimidate or be the authors of chaos. There’s a ton of work that still needs to be done on even deeper issues. The self-hate you see amongst Black America in this country toward one other is sickening. A lot of work to be done on all levels.”
