Spurs news: Becky Hammon's supposed first head coaching stint raises confusion

When Gregg Popovich got ejected against the Blazers, the initial thought was Becky Hammon would took over as Spurs head coach thereby making history.

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich was ejected in the third quarter of their game against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Wait, did that mean history for Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon? Many initially believed so, too, saying that Hammon is the first woman to coach a male squad in all of the four major sports.

https://twitter.com/thestephena_/status/1195898894561038337

However, reports came out that the Spurs used a three-person “by committee” approach to close out the game without the legendary guru.

So apparently they are calling this a three-person head coach “by committee,” which still makes Hammon’s inclusion historic, and also validates all of my emailers who tell me Popovich is a communist.

— Mike Finger (@mikefinger) November 17, 2019

Marc Stein of The New York Post, likewise, relayed that Popovich said that Spurs legend and now assistant coach Tim Duncan acted in his place for the remainder of the game.

Gregg Popovich clarified for reporters in San Antonio after the game that Tim Duncan was the acting head coach after his ejection. The Spurs’ fifth straight loss, as stated earlier, goes on Pop’s record

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) November 17, 2019

The ejection definitely stirred some major confusion around the NBA circles.

It appears like this history-making moment will have to wait. Nevertheless, Hammon has already made history in the past when she became the first full-time female assistant coach in league history when the Spurs hired her in 2014.

Regardless, Pop doesn't really appear to care about what happened with the coaching hoopla that made the rounds on social media. The Spurs ended up losing the contest to the Blazers, 121-116.

It was as back-and-forth of a contest as both teams held massive leads at some point in the game. Portland used a blistering 41-point first quarter and led by as much as 23 in the second before San Antonio stormed back to take a six-point lead heading into the final frame.

The Spurs appeared to have things under control with a 15-point cushion with 8:32 remaining. But Portland had one final run in them to secure their 5th win of the season.