SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — For Dejan Milojević, the Golden State Warriors and Atlanta Hawks stood united on a sideline near their team benches and listened as the Serbian national anthem played in his honor.
Each Warrior player then placed an additional jersey with Milojević's name on the back, which he wore on one of the coaches' chairs during warm-ups, and also had a special black T-shirt that read “BRATE” draped over the seat – ” brate” is the word in Serbian for brother, which is what their coach called them all.
Golden State returned to the court for the first time since losing its beloved assistant coach last week in Salt Lake City. Milojević suffered a heart attack at a team dinner last Tuesday evening and died the next day.
A tribute video played on the big screen and photos throughout Chase Center showed a beaming “Deki,” as they so affectionately called him.
Two members of the Hawks sat right next to Warriors coach Steve Kerr as he spoke about Milojević's profound influence on everyone he met. Belgrade native Atlanta guard Bogdan Bogdanovic played for Milojević's former Partizan team. Hawks assistant coach Igor Kokoskov was the Serbian national team coach and hired Milojević to his staff.
Milojević's wife Natasa held a bouquet of flowers, and their children Masa and Nikola were surrounded by love through a long standing ovation that Kerr requested in lieu of a minute's silence.
Kerr appreciated Milojević's smile and enjoyed seeing all the images that captured him so perfectly.
“The smile is perfect. He was constantly smiling and laughing,” Kerr said.
The Warriors only resumed training on Monday after the games against the Jazz and Friday's home game against Dallas were postponed following his death last Wednesday.
They now wear patches with the coach's initials – DM – in a heart. The same logo is also on the pitch at Chase Center.
“It is very emotional to enter the building for the first time on a game night without Deki. “Obviously we’re all wearing our shirts and there are pictures of him with his ever-present smile,” Kerr said. “It's very emotional because everything is still very raw and surreal in many ways. We've been practicing for the last few days and there's not much to say to prepare for something like this. Just jump into the game headfirst, stay together and try to win a basketball game and honor our brother.”
Hawks coach Quin Snyder praised Kerr for his courage and leadership during this heartbreaking time and did everything he could to support both men on his side.
“You can feel the emotions and the pain. “They were both very stoic, but it's not hard at all to see the depth of their emotions and their sadness,” Snyder said. “In a way, it's a good thing to be here tonight and for these guys to be able to take part in the celebration of Deki's life this evening. For us and for them, because they knew how close they were.
“As I said, there's no question that they feel this in their own way, in a personal way. Obviously it’s different from the Warriors team and all its players, coaches and their organization, but as Serbian these guys have a unique connection in this case.”
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