The Spurs And Their Fans Are Out For Blood

Spurs fans wasted no time ending the mystery of how Kawhi Leonard would be received in San Antonio in his first post-trade visit, booing the shit out of him every time he touched the ball during pregame warmups. The Spurs were reportedly on the fence about showing a Kawhi tribute video tonight, concerned about the crowd’s reaction, but ultimately made the decision to be Classy and First-Rate or whatever:

Someone thoughtful in the organization had the good idea to honor Kawhi and Danny Green in the same video, rightly figuring that goodwill toward Green would counteract hostility toward Kawhi and keep the presentation from devolving into a display of pure bloodlust. But just to clear up any potential confusion about who was being cheered in there, fans let Kawhi have it during player introductions:

Kawhi opened the game with an and-one bucket—fans kept booing, all the way through his missed free throw—but the Spurs are all over the Raptors early, and Spurs fans are not relenting. Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said after the first quarter that his squad wasn’t “ready for the electricity” in the arena, and they’re having their doors blown off in the first half. Tonight is so far looking like it will not be the ninth time in his life that Kawhi laughs aloud.