Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was ejected early on in his team’s blowout loss to the Pelicans on Friday night. However, before he entered the locker room, the 73-year-old had a fantastic reaction to his dismissal.
The scene broke out less than three minutes into the second quarter with San Antonio already trailing 39–15. After a New Orleans shot clock violation, Popovich began to berate an official, who issued the Spurs coach his first technical foul. The 73-year-old didn’t back down and yelled some more choice words at the referee, earning him an ejection.
After two assistant coaches were finally able to get Popovich away from the official, he started to make his way for the locker room. As he did, he winked back in the direction of the court.
Popovich’s impassioned rant wasn’t enough to inspire his team to come back from nearly 30 points down in the first half. Although the Spurs played much better in the final two quarters, San Antonio still fell 124–91.
Devin Vassell led the way for the Spurs with 18 points. The Pelicans had five players in double digits, with CJ McCollum posting a game-high 20 points.
Although Saturday wasn’t the result he was looking for, Popovich has had a historic season. Just over a week ago, the Spurs coach earned his 1,336th career regular season victory, passing Don Nelson to become the winningest coach in NBA history.
“[The record] is a testament to a whole lot of people,”, Popovich said postgame on March 11. “Something like this does not belong to one individual. Basketball is a team sport, and you preach to your players that they have to do it together and that’s certainly been the case in my life with all the wonderful players, coaches, staff that I’ve been blessed with … the support of this wonderful city, the fans support us no matter what. All of us share in this record. It’s not mine, it’s ours.”
The Spurs (27–44) have struggled as of late, winning just three of their last 10 games. San Antonio is 2.5 games out of tenth place in the Western Conference with 11 games remaining.
