Sporting walkouts over racial injustice in the United States are growing following the boycott by NBA basketball side Milwaukee Bucks of their play off game against the Orlando Magic.
Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams Photo: Photosport
The action comes following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, in Kenosha, Wisconsin earlier this week.
The Magic, who trail three-one in the best-of-seven, first-round series, left the court when it was clear the Bucks were not going to play.
The NBA has now postponed all three of today's playoff games including New Zealand player Steven Adams' Oklahoma City Thunder (OKC) match against the Houston Rockets and the LA Lakers and the Portland Trailblazers.
OKC and the Rockets are level at two games all in the series.
"In light of the Milwaukee Bucks' decision to not take the floor today for Game 5 against the Orlando Magic, today's three games Bucks vs. Magic, Houston Rockets vs. Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Lakers vs. Portland Trail Blazers - have been postponed," the NBA said in a statement.
"Game 5 of each series will be rescheduled."
Earlier in the day, Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer told reporters that the Bucks organization was "very disturbed by what's happening in Kenosha."
"It's a great challenge to have an appreciation and a desire for change and to want something different and better in Kenosha and Milwaukee and Wisconsin and then go out and play a game," he said.
Beyonce's song "Freedom" rang out in the empty arena in Orlando as the clock counting down to the start of the game ran out.
Protests against racial injustice and police brutality have been at the forefront since the NBA restarted its season in a bio-secure bubble at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex near Orlando last month.
The courts have the words "Black Lives Matter" painted on them and many players are wearing jerseys with social justice slogans on them but the Bucks' boycott was the most dramatic move by a team to date.
The death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody in May, sparked protests across the United States, joined by many NBA players.
The action has also spread to other sports with former world tennis number one Naomi Osaka pulling out of the semi-finals of the latest WTA event in New York in protest.
Osaka, who has a Japanese mother and Haitian father and has been a vocal supporter of the "Black Lives Matter" movement, said in a social media post: "Before I am an athlete, I am a Black woman".
— NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) August 27, 2020
"I don't expect anything drastic to happen with me not playing, but if I can get a conversation started in a majority white sport I consider that a step in the right direction.
"Watching the continued genocide of Black people at the hand of the police is honestly making me sick to my stomach."
Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer have also postponed matches.
-Reuters
