Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers said his players thought the NBA season was over following Wednesday's boycotts.
All three playoff games were postponed midweek amid protests over racial injustice following the shooting of Jacob Blake in the United States, after the Milwaukee Bucks opted not to play Game 5 of their Eastern Conference first-round series against the Orlando Magic.
The NBA also postponed Thursday's scheduled matchups, including the Clippers' Game 6 Western Conference meeting with the Dallas Mavericks at Walt Disney World Resort.
A Friday or Saturday resumption is hoped within the league, as Rivers said his players are ready to continue the postseason following an emotional meeting in Orlando, Florida.
When asked if the Clippers – who lead the Mavericks 3-2 in the series – are ready to move forward, Rivers told Fox Prime Ticket: "Oh, they want to.
"They are really looking forward to it. Yesterday was a very difficult day though. Like their emotions were all over the place.
"They thought it was over. It was just a really tough day for all of them."
On the Bucks' decision to boycott Wednesday's clash having been on the cusp of the second round, Rivers said: "I loved it.
"I wish, obviously, they would've alerted all the players so they wouldn't have been blindsided by it, but I thought the action was the right action, especially because of who it was.
"I thought the one team that had to take action immediately was Milwaukee, if we were gonna take action at all, and again that's our choice."
With teams based in the Orlando bubble amid the coronavirus pandemic, Rivers added: "I do think being here, you feel like you are doing work but you don't see the work, you don't know what you are doing.
"Because you are in this bubble so you are kind of away from the real world. I thought some of the guys voiced that they know they are doing the right thing here, they know that they have a platform here but they just feel like they are not part of the movement in here. Because they don't see the results that all the things they've been saying has actually done [something] because they are in here."