The victory of the Golden State Warriors before the Atlanta Hawks was marked by the figure of Dejan Milojevic. The Serbian, former coach during the summer league with the Hawks and assistant with the Warriors, tragically died at the age of 46, so both teams came together to pay him an emotional tribute before the game.
“It wasn’t easy, but I think our players did a really good job of trying to make that transition and adjust to the game,” Kerr said. “It was very emotional. Many were crying during the initial jump.”
The Splash Brothers shined playing for their beloved “brate,” the word for brother in Serbian that Milojević used so lovingly for all the Warriors. Kuminga had his best night with the Warriors, making all eleven shots he attempted to tie Chris Mullin for the franchise record for field goals. “It’s been a tough week,” Kuminga said. “We obviously regrouped with everything that was going on and I just enjoyed having fun and doing whatever Deki wanted us to do.”
The Warriors players warmed up with a t-shirt with the word brate, brother in Serbian,
JOHN G. MABANGLO / EFE
In an emotional pre-match ceremony, the two teams stood close together near their dugouts and listened as the Serbian national anthem played in their honor. Each Warriors player then placed an additional jersey with Milojević’s name on the back, worn during warmups. “There’s still a big hole on our team,” Thompson said. Two injured Warriors, Chris Paul and Gary Payton II, wore their jerseys with Milojević on the back throughout the game.
The seat normally occupied by Milojevic had a t-shirt in his memory
JOHN G. MABANGLO / EFE
The entire Chase Center was filled with photographs of “Deki,” the nickname by which Milojevic was known. As fate would have it, the first game the Warriors played was against the Hawks, a team in which Milojevic was also very important.
Bogdan Bogdanovic is originally from Belgrade and played for Milojević’s Partizan. In addition, Hawks assistant coach Igor Kokoskov was a Serbian coach and hired Milojević for his staff, becoming the team’s coach during the Summer League.
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2024-01-25 07:42:39
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