Fans at Rockets opener show support for Hong Kong protesters

A group of 30 fans at Houston Rockets’ season opener against Milwaukee held signs and wore shirts in support of anti-government protesters in Hong Kong on Thursday night.

Houston general manr Daryl Morey angered China with a since-deleted tweet in support of protesters earlier this month.

Wednesday’s opening-night games were t televised in China in wake of Morey’s tweet that caused tension between NBA and Chinese officials.

Many in group wore black T-shirts with white letters that re: “Fight for Freedom.”

majority of group was from Houston’s Vietnamese community, but it also included people from Hong Kong.

Chris Wong, who was born in Hong Kong and moved to Houston 10 years ago, said he joined group to support freedom of speech.

“ NBA and American corporations are facing issue of free speech,” he said. “y have to ask mselves how much freedom are y willing to give in exchange for access to market in China? That’s why we want to send this mess to everyone.”

One man held a sign re: “Thank you Morey,” with a red heart after Morey’s name. Ar sign re: “ censorship in America” and a third declared: “Freedom is t FREE.” Ar man held a sign that said: “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong,” which are exact words included in Morey’s tweet.

Tram Ho helped organize group and said reason for putting it toger was simple.

“We wanted to support pro-Democracy movement in Hong Kong,” she said. “ NBA’s Morey ... tweeted a benign tweet to support (movement and) Chinese government overreacted and tried to censor us and that’s t right. So that brought me idea that we would support ... pro-democratic movement.”

Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta quickly rebuked his GM after his tweet with a tweet saying that Morey does t speak for team, but dam was done. Chinese Basketball Association, heed by former Rockets star Yao Ming, suspended its ties to Rockets over tweet. Events in China promoting a Lakers-Nets series were canceled, NBA media partner Tencent said it was evaluating its plans to cover league and some Chinese corporations have suspended relationships with NBA.