Warriors Executives Use NBA Finals Off Day to Play Pickup Game at Prison
While Golden State Warriors players spend their off days during the 2015 NBA Finals focusing and game-planning against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team's front office took some time out to play a pickup basketball game—at a prison.
According to the Wall Street Journal's Ben Cohen, Golden State general manager Bob Myers and a group of team executives made a trip to San Quentin State Prison last week to play some hoops against the prison's basketball team, the San Quentin Warriors.
San Quentin's team is made up of the 14 best players in the prison. The team holds tryouts every season, with only the elite players making the squad.
The team practices on Tuesday and Thursday nights and plays games against different teams on Saturdays. When the team plays, it's as official as any other game. There are uniforms, referees, a scoreboard operator, a play-by-play announcer, etc.
This past week, the San Quentin team was a bit surprised by its opponent.
“I heard you were coming,” San Quentin coach Daniel Wright, aka Bear, said to Myers, per Cohen. “I said he can’t be. They’re in the middle of the Finals.”
Although it was hard for Wright to believe, it happened. The Warriors front office was there and ready to play.
This wasn't just a random trip to San Quentin for the Golden State organization. According to Cohen, Warriors players (who do not play in the games) and management have made several trips to the prison over the past few years. San Quentin even beat Golden State back in September, per Cohen:
"San Quentin’s team had upset the Golden State Warriors the last time that Myers was here—and they hadn’t forgotten about it. The prisoners were especially chatty about assistant coach Luke Walton’s performance. They claimed the former NBA player had shied away from the post to settle for outside shots. ("Absolutely not true," Walton said in response to the allegations.)
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Hoping to avenge that loss, Golden State came ready to play on its latest visit. Myers' 26 points led the Green Team to an 85-79 victory over San Quentin, handing the inmates their first loss of the season.
