On Wednesday, the fraternity within the international basketball community was evident.

SAN FRANCISCO The game’s opening basket was a fitting homage to Deki. most likely not for the reason you may have assumed.

Twenty-one seconds into the first quarter, Stephen Curry made a 3-pointer to start the scoring on the first possession of the first game following the passing of Golden State Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojevic. Everyone at the extremely emotional Chase Centre seemed to be cheering, screaming, and maybe even crying a little.

“My primary advice prior to the game was to simply immerse yourself in the game,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr stated following the team’s 134–112 victory over the Atlanta Hawks. “I think getting out and playing is probably the very best thing that, for players, you can do to get their minds off of the sorrow that we’ve all felt this past week.”

But Curry didn’t start with that emotional bucket. Just moments before, he had missed the opening shot of the match, momentarily deflating an electorate on the verge of erupting.

He only received a second look as a result of Warriors centre Kevon Looney’s signature one-handed offensive rebound—a no-jump play. And whom do you believe Looney has given credit to for his progress in rebounding during the last three seasons? You could practically feel the warmth of Coach Deki’s smile in that moment—a smile that Kerr and others have mentioned several times in the last week.

In the pregame tribute video, Looney stated, “We kind of hit it off as soon as we met.” “He wasn’t afraid to tell me when I was wrong, and I kind of built that confidence in him and started building that trust and building a relationship with him since Day 1.”

Forever our brother, Deki 💙 pic.twitter.com/Z7pU0hGeFz

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) January 25, 2024

Curry beats his chest and raises one finger to the sky following almost every 3-pointer he makes, and there have been many. While playing at Davidson, he created the gesture with his mother’s assistance as a reassuring reminder of his faith and family. He lifted two fingers in honour of his fallen coach and flexed them to the sky on Wednesday night after making the opening bucket.

His Brate.

Before the game, the black shirts worn by the Hawks and Warriors both had the Serbian word for brother inscribed across them. And nowhere was the brotherhood of basketball more apparent than it is within the Golden State organisation, among the NBA family, and beyond national boundaries.

In a moving pregame ceremony, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green shed tears for Milojevic, who passed away last week at the age of 46 after suffering a heart attack. Igor Kokoskov, the Hawks assistant, and Bogdan Bogdanovic, the guard, stood at centre court to honour their fellow Serbian during the video tribute. Stories of Milojevic greeting visiting European players with a constant smile on his face were recounted by Kerr and other individuals.

Before the game, Hawks coach Quin Snyder remarked, “This business is unique—playing, coaching, the fact that it transcends borders, transcends cultures.” “There are shared experiences there that we all feel.”

The Warriors brought their fallen family member to life on a night when they fiercely brought the physical embodiment of unity to life.

Six Warriors scored ten or more points. Every Golden State player who was available entered the match. In their 400th game together, the incredible three of Curry, Thompson, and Green performed. For the 500th straight game, the Warriors were sold out at home.

One of the closest Warriors to Milojevic, Dario Saric, performed his pregame ritual without the presence of his dependable coach on Wednesday night. He had devoted the last week to provide his utmost support to the widow and two children of Milojevic.

After the game, Saric remarked, “Emotionally, the entire weekend was like a roller coaster for me.” “I want to cry sometimes, and other times I’m okay. Good times can occasionally come back to mind.”

The Warriors believe that playing basketball is what Deki would most want above everything else, so they must return their focus to it. They defeated an Atlanta club that was having trouble without its best player on Wednesday, taking the first and most crucial step. It might seem insignificant, but the Warriors have suffered defeats at the hands of far weaker opponents.

Of course, though, the goal of this game went beyond simply improving their record and trying to get into the play-in race.

It has to do with remembering. It dealt with loss. It was about forcing the healing process to start, no matter how long it takes.

“After the game, there’s still a really big hole in our team,” Thompson remarked. “We miss him every day, think about all the time. … He was such an amazing person, and I really miss him, so it just stinks.”