Kawhi Leonard was showered with boos every time he touched the ball at the AT&T Center in San Antonio on Thursday, which should have been expected given his publicized fallout with the Spurs.
At some point, however, the heckling got to be too much for Leonard's mother, who took it upon herself to stand up to some trash-talking fans, as seen in the video embedded below.
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Of the constant booing, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said he "felt badly" for the former Finals MVP.
"I felt badly about it," Popovich said, per ESPN. "Kawhi's a high-character guy. We all make decisions in our lives with what we're going to do with our futures, and he has that same right as any of us. So I felt badly, in all honesty."
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Leonard led Toronto last night with 21 points on 8-for-13 shooting to go with five assists, but it wasn't nearly enough to overcome the Spurs, who took command of the game early and never looked back. DeMar DeRozan thrived in his first game against his former team, posting the first triple-double of his career with 21 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists.
That said, DeRozan still tried to downplay the significance of the highly-anticipated matchup.
"It really wasn't nothing," DeRozan said. "It was fun. It was extremely fun.
"It wasn't emotional at all for me. ... It was just a fun game for me."
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