An empty court and bench is shown following the scheduled start time in Game Five of the Eastern Conference First Round between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Orlando Magic during the 2020 NBA Playoffs at AdventHealth Arena at ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on Aug 26, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. (Photo: Agencies)

ORLANDO - The Milwaukee Bucks staged an unprecedented boycott of the NBA playoffs on Wednesday, forcing the league to postpone three games following outrage over the latest shooting of an unarmed black man by US police.

The NBA said it had postponed its entire slate of Wednesday fixtures after the Bucks refused to play game five of their Eastern Conference first-round series against the Orlando Magic in protest at the shooting of African-American Jacob Blake in Wisconsin on Sunday.

"We're tired of the killings and the injustice," Bucks player George Hill was quoted by The Undefeated website as saying after Milwaukee failed to take to the court at 4.10 pm local time (2010 GMT).

The Bucks' no-show prompted the NBA to scrap two other games scheduled for Wednesday, Houston's clash with Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers' matchup with the Portland Trail Blazers.

"The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association today announced that in light of the Milwaukee Bucks' decision to not take the floor today for Game 5 against the Orlando Magic, today's three games ... have been postponed," the statement said.

The postponements marked a dramatic escalation in the NBA's fight for racial equality, which has swept through the league in the months since the killing of unarmed African-American man George Floyd by police in Minneapolis in May.

Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James voiced solidarity with the decision in a tweet shortly after the Bucks boycott.

"WE DEMAND CHANGE. SICK OF IT," James wrote.

A wave of anger had rippled across the NBA after Sunday's shooting of the 29-year-old black man in the Bucks' home state on Sunday.

Blake was shot seven times in the back by police in Kenosha as he attempted to get into a car containing his three children.

Protests have erupted in Kenosha since the shooting, with two people killed after a man in civilian clothes opened fire on demonstrators with an assault rifle on Tuesday.