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Portland Trail Blazers fans had plenty to boo about in the Blazers’ 103-91 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks tonight, but their chief ire was reserved for back-up center Meyers Leonard, whose 8 minutes of playing time included a bad miss on a wide-open three and a less-than-spectacular non-hustle play on a loose ball. By the time Leonard’s shift was half through, catcalls were raining down from the rafters of the Moda Center. But as Portland Tribune columnist Kerry Eggers describes, starting center Jusuf Nurkic was quick to come to Leonard’s aid.
‘@bosnianbeast27 defends @MeyersLeonard11 postgame:
— kerry eggers (@kerryeggers) December 1, 2017
“It’s tough when you have fans who boo Meyers for no reason. if they boo him, boo everybody. Don’t just boo guy who just missed a shot. Boo me, boo everybody. Everybody missed shots. he didn’t deserve to be booed.” #goodfornurk
The Blazers provided video of the comments via their official YouTube account.
Jason Quick of CSNNW has the other side of the story.
Meyers Leonard didn't know Jusuf Nurkic stood up for him re: fans booing. "Honeslty, I appreciate Nurk saying something.I mean for the people who boo … yeah. Truly in my down-home country roots I have some nasty words for those people. But I'm going to keep it professional.
— Jason Quick (@jwquick) December 1, 2017
Plenty of Twitter commentators, and some on our site, were discussing the booing even before it hit Portland’s locker room. What do you say? Is booing a home player ethical, permissible, or excusable? Is Leonard justified in wanting to clap back? Did you boo his play tonight at the arena or from the comfort of your home? Weigh in below.