Winning a game is not enough for Gregg Popovich.
After improving their record to 11-3 for the season following a win versus the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, the San Antonio Spurs‘ head coach was clearly not satisfied with the way they won the game as the Mavs, who currently have an influx of injuries on their key players and have the worst record in the league today, were able to hang around until deep in the last quarter.
The veteran bench tactician blasted his team for playing lethargic basketball and playing down to their opponents' level. He even went as far as calling their performance “pathetic.”
Article Continues Below“That was a pathetic performance on the part of the Spurs. You know, they had some guys out, we had some guys out, but they had a lot more out than we did. I thought we showed a lack of humility, a lack of respect for the opponent, a very pathetic performance at both ends of the court, both in execution and in grunt, in fiber, in desire. It was an awful performance. Oh, and they deserved to win the basketball game. I forgot to say that.”
Coach Pop with the best rant of the year after beating the worst team in the NBA.
Wait for it… pic.twitter.com/byLZu4eKdQ
— Casey Keirnan (@CaseyKeirnan) November 22, 2016
It will be very interesting to see how his players respond following his rant. If this serves as a wake up call to his squad, it will spell trouble for their opponents as they already have one of the best records in the league today and calling them out after a win will only make the veteran Spurs better.
They will look to play better basketball that their coach will approve of when they face the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday.