Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown just watched his team demolish the Utah Jazz in Wednesday night’s season opener at the Delta Center.
But basketball was the furthest thing from his mind postgame.
“I’m walking over here, and somebody says, ‘There was a mass shooting in Maine — 22 dead,” Brown said. “… If that doesn’t touch anybody, I don’t know. I don’t even know what to say.”
Several media outlets have reported that at least 22 people are dead and dozens are injured following two shootings Wednesday night at a bowling alley and a restaurant in Lewiston, Maine.
Brown wound up addressing reporters for just over three and a half minutes, with his remarks exclusively directed toward the shooting deaths across the country.
“I’m not that smart, but I know that we as a country got to do something,” Brown said.
He paused frequently to collect his thoughts, and at one point rapped on the table in frustration.
“That is absolutely disgusting, and it’s sad, and it’s sad that we sit here and watch this happen time after time after time after time, and nobody does anything about it,” Brown said. “… It’s a sad day in this country, a sad day in this world until we decide to do something about it. … This is going to keep happening, and our kids aren’t going to be able to enjoy what this country is about because we don’t know how to fix a problem that’s right in front of us.”
At the end of his comments, one reporter asked if Brown would be willing to field a question about his team’s victory against the Jazz.
The media-friendly coach declined, acknowledging he wasn’t in the right headspace.
“I don’t even want to talk basketball. We played a game. It was fun. Obviously, we won,” Brown said. “But if we can’t do anything to fix this, it’s over. It’s over. It’s over for our country for this to happen time after time.”
