Toronto Raptors GM uses colourful language again prior to playoff opener

TORONTO – Masai Ujiri was at it again Saturday.

The Toronto GM used an expletive when addressing fans talking about Washington forward Paul Pierce prior to the Raptors’ playoff opener. Last year, Ujiri was fined US$25,000 by the NBA for ending a speech by pairing an F-bomb with Brooklyn prior to the club’s post-season opening game against the Nets.

“People want me to say something about Paul Pierce but, we don’t give a (expletive) about ‘it’,” Ujiri told a cheering crowd outside the Air Canada Centre in an area dubbed Jurassic Park.

Ujiri was referring to the Wizards veteran who earlier this week told ESPN he wasn’t worried about the Raptors because “I don’t feel they have the ‘it’ that makes you worried.”

Ujiri, who was fined by the NBA last year “for using obscene language in a public setting,” had joked earlier this week “I honestly don’t have enough money to respond to him (Pierce).”

There was no immediate word on whether NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who attended Saturday’s game in Toronto, would punish Ujiri. But the Raptors GM got plenty of support on Twitter.