Page 17 - AT

A17
Thursday 10 OcTOber 2019

NBA

postpones HELLE-

Nets-Lakers

media

sessions in YEAH!

Shanghai

By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Basketball Writer
The NBA called off sched-
uled media sessions
Wednesday for the Brook-
lyn Nets and Los Angeles
Lakers in Shanghai, and
it remains unclear if the
teams will play in China this
week as scheduled.
The teams were practic-
ing in Shanghai, where at
least two other NBA events
in advance of the start of
the China games were
canceled as part of the
ongoing rift that started
after Houston Rockets gen-
eral manager Daryl Morey
posted a tweet last week
that showed support for
anti-government protest-
ers in Hong Kong.
"Given the fluidity of the
situation, today's media
availability has been post-
poned," the league said.
By nightfall Wednesday in
China, which is 12 hours
ahead of Eastern time in
the U.S., the availabilities
had not been rescheduled
— though having them on
Thursday remains possible.
An NBA Cares event in
Shanghai that was to ben-
efit Special Olympics was
called off, as was a “fan
night” celebration that
was to be highlighted by
the league announcing
plans to refurbish some
outdoor courts in that city.
And workers in multiple
spots around Shanghai Heinola, inexperienced D
were tearing down large
outdoor promotional ad- lead Jets past Penguins, 4-1
vertisements for Thursday’s
Lakers-Nets game.
The teams are also sup-
posed to play Saturday in Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck begins to celebrate a 4-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins at the end of the third
Shenzhen. period of an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2019.
Associated Press
Continued on Next Page Page 19