Before the Dallas Mavericks faced the San Antonio Spurs on New Year's Eve, Gregg Popovich guaranteed that they were going to hold Luka Doncic to under 50 points. Long story short, they didn't.
Now, Coach Pop is on the receiving end of hilarious trolling from NBA fans who couldn't help but mock him for his “joke” that he surely wished the Spurs were able to do. San Antonio allowed Doncic to drop 51 points on them, 22 of which coming in the first quarter alone. Doncic also had six rebounds, nine assists, four steals and one block for good measure.
The Spurs were able to fight well, losing by just one point 126-125. Nonetheless, several people think Pop jinxed it with his pre-game declaration.
“Pops jinxed it. Hold Luka to 50? He got 51 and Mavs won by ONE?! That's insaneeeee,” one Twitter user said.
A Mavs fan added, “Gregg Popovich is eating his words. They did NOT in fact hold Luka Doncic to under 50 points.”
“Sorry Gregg Popovich but Luka dropped more than 50,” a third commenter shared.
Here are more reactions to Doncic's 51 points after Popovich's statement:




Gregg Popovich: "We're holding Luka under 50"
Luka: pic.twitter.com/Kb4umbD9rO
— Luther Luffeigh (@TheDailyGerald_) January 1, 2023
Gregg Popovich thought the Spurs would hold Luka under 50 points…
Well, he's sitting at 51 🤣pic.twitter.com/B1Q1GU8ACF
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) January 1, 2023
Gregg Popovich to his team pic.twitter.com/LLJJxMGi2V
— AY🇸🇴 (@aykeepitabuck) January 1, 2023
Gregg Popovich said he wanted to hold Luka under 50 points earlier this week.
He dropped 51 tonight 😅 pic.twitter.com/EBB6gTOPzo
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) January 1, 2023
Everyone knows that Gregg Popovich is joking when he made that statement. He knows very well what Luka Doncic is capable of anyway, and that was his tongue-in-cheek way of praising the Slovenian's scoring brilliance.
Still, we can't blame those Mavs fans trolling Popovich. After all, out of all the points he could score, Luka had to really drop 51 as if sending a direct response to Pop's earlier remarks.