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Announce Meyers Leonard's name correctly, or he will correct you

Meyers Leonard acknowledges the true and correct pronunciation of his name. (AP)
Meyers Leonard acknowledges the true and correct pronunciation of his name. (AP)

It hasn’t been the strongest start to the season for Portland Trail Blazers big man Meyers Leonard. He’s struggled to earn regular minutes in Terry Stotts’ frontcourt rotation, and hasn’t consistently produced in the burn he’s gotten, entering Monday averaging a shade under six points and 3.5 rebounds in 16 minutes per game while shooting just 37.6 percent from the floor.

Basically, outside of his hair looking tremendous, not much has gone right for Meyers this year. When you’re in that kind of rut, and life’s got you down, sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name — like, say, good ol’ Chicago, about four hours north of where Leonard played his high school ball in Robinson, Ill., and a couple of hours away from Champaign, where the 7-footer shined for the Fighting Illini.

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Except … well, things didn’t quite turn out that way for Meyers when the Blazers took on the Chicago Bulls on Monday night:

Sometimes, in life, the public address announcer calls you “Miles.” And sometimes, you take the bull by the horns, and scream out “MEYERS!” at him in the middle of the game, because A) if you’re out there trying your best, everybody else around you should, too, and B) dammit, if you’re not going to advocate for yourself in this crazy world, then who will?

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The baller move in this situation would have been for Leonard to go nuts and deliver the kind of monster performance that forces P.A. announcers everywhere to make sure they remember his name. Instead, though, he fouled out in 12 1/2 minutes of work against the Bulls’ front line, finishing with two points, two rebounds, two assists and two turnovers.

The Blazers still did get the W, though, topping Chicago 112-110 behind 54 points and 12 assists from the dynamic duo of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum. It was Portland’s third straight win, improving them to 12-10 on the season and starting off a five-game road trip on the right foot. Leonard will get back to the Pacific Northwest — and a P.A. announcer who definitely knows his name — next week. For now, though, the Blazers have road dates to keep, and miles Meyers miles to go before they sleep.

Hat-tip to FTW.

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!