The Pulse: Fans say Suns forward Morris’ comments ‘not wrong,’ but better left unsaid
Mar 4, 2015, 3:43 AM | Updated: 3:43 am
Markieff Morris sure caused a local stir over the weekend and beyond after calling out Phoenix Suns fans for their perceived indifference during home games.
Among Morris’ comments last Saturday after a blowout loss to San Antonio were, “I don’t think we have a home court advantage,” and, “I don’t feel like, this year, that they’re behind us.”
Morris wasn’t the first in the organization this season to question the fan atmosphere in US Airways Center, but unlike Suns president of basketball operations Lon Babby, the starting power forward stood by his comments.
With such drama fresh in the minds of Valley sports fans, we asked our readers in our Sanderson Ford Poll Question of the Day, which can be found in the right-hand column of our home page, what they thought of the controversial comments.
The top answer in the poll, by quite a wide margin, is the one that gives the fourth-year forward some benefit of the doubt, but doesn’t let him off the hook completely: Out of 919 voters, 440 (48 percent) answered, “He’s not wrong, but he shouldn’t have said it.”
Yes, some things are better left unsaid. Quite a few fans apparently felt he had some valid points, but the timing was far from the best, considering how poorly the team performed against the Spurs.
The two most negative reactions our poll offered garnered a combined 39 percent of the vote. The option “Suns fans are alright, what’s his problem?” came in second overall with 221 votes earned (24 percent). With 15 percent (137 people) of the vote, “He’s dead wrong, Suns fans are great,” came in third.
The most positive reaction came in last by a slim margin: It read, “He’s right, fans need to be better,” and it garnered 121 clicks (13 percent).
After the potential damage had been done, Morris opened a game Monday night looking not to add any more fuel to the fire for detractors, scoring a team-high 13 points in the first half in Miami. However, the embattled forward was ejected for a hard foul on ex-teammate Goran Dragic early in the third quarter, a play that was questionably ruled a Flagrant 2 foul.
Phoenix went on to lose its second straight game, falling 115-98 to the Heat.
