The San Antonio Spurs defeated the New York Knicks for their seventh straight win on Friday night.
The Knicks were without point guard Dennis Smith Jr., and this loss represents New York’s eighth straight as they line up all their cards for what will be a monumental offseason for the Knicks.
Head Coach David Fizdale of the Knicks was recently quoted regarding the development of rookie Kevin Knox, but after the Spurs game, there was a different topic du jour: San Antonio’s problem with bats at its home arena, the AT&T Center.
According to a recent game recap from the Associated Press on ESPN, Fizdale wants to protect the bats and make sure they’re safe:
“I like animals, I'm an animal lover,” Fizdale said in the story. “Hopefully we can catch it and let it go where it needs to go.”
Bats have long been the bane of the AT&T Center. Famously, Manu Ginobili’s cat-like reflexes allowed him to swat one out of the air when it invaded the court:
Fizdale's solution would be far more humane, as he was quoted as saying he would want to use a net to catch the bat to make sure it was released without harming the winged mammal.
Recently, the Spurs' mascot, The Coyote, was actually able to catch a bat via a net during a game on February 2 against the New Orleans Pelicans. Either way, it seems beneficial that no bat was sighted last night, according to Fizdale:
“Yeah, I mean we don't want to hurt it,” Fizdale said in the ESPN piece. “It's just a little bat. Our guys will probably freak out.”