Mills abuser was way off base

CLEVELAND Cavaliers security officials are attempting to identify the man who yelled “Jamaican dog” at Australian San Antonio Spurs guard Patty Mills during an NBA game at the weekend.

Mills, a “very proud Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander”, described the fan who yelled the abuse as confused and hateful.

The fan could clearly be heard on US TV network ABC’s broadcast of the Spurs’ 110-94 win over the Cavs on Sunday at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena.

“Hey Jamaican dog, they want their bobsledder back,” the male voice yelled as Mills was at the free throw line.

The fan followed up with: “Hey Mills, Jamaica just called, they want their bobsledder back.”

When outraged NBA fan Zandra Ashley tweeted to Cavs’ star LeBron James about the racial slurs, Mills tweeted back to her.

“I am a proud Islander,” Mills wrote. “Like my Jamaican Brothers, me & my family in the islands of the Torres Strait have experienced racial slurs for decades.

“Hope your efforts will enlighten this confused, hateful fan.”

Mills was born in Canberra, his father Benny is from the Torres Strait Islands and mother Yvonne is Aboriginal from the Kokatha people in South Australia. On Mills’s Twitter page he describes himself as “a very proud Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander” with an Aboriginal mother, Thursday Island father, Naghir Island grandfather and Murray Island grandmother.

Meanwhile, Klay Thompson has scored 26 points, Kevin Durant 22 and Stephen Curry 21 to lead the Golden State Warriors to a 125-111 NBA win over the New York Knicks. The Knicks led by a point at halftime but Golden State blew them away in a 39-18 third quarter.

DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry each scored 20 points to lead the Toronto Raptors to a 123-94 rout of the slumping Detroit Pistons. Toronto has won seven of the past eight.

Kyrie Irving had 25 points, six rebounds and five assists as Boston Celtics built a large cushion and cruised to a 109-98 victory over the visiting Memphis Grizzlies.