Shortly before 1:00 p.m. EST on Saturday afternoon, news came down the wire stating that Ettore Messina will be filling in for Gregg Popovich as the San Antonio Spurs head coach for Sunday's Game 4 matchup against the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference quarterfinals.

As most of the sports-loving world knows, Popovich recently lost his wife, Erin, due to complications from an undisclosed illness. Erin and Gregg were married four decades. They were wed while Gregg was working as an assistant coach at the Air Force Academy from 1973 to 1979. They have two children and two grandchildren.

Messina, now 58 years of age, is a well-established coach. In fact, he won four EuroLeague championships (EuroLeague Coach of the Year twice: 2006 and 2008) before joining the Spurs in 2016. In 17 seasons as a Euroleague coach, Messina recorded a 279–98 overall record (.740).

Messina was asked to lead the Spurs in Game 3, though it was a losing effort (110-97).

“I think that everybody did a fantastic job as players, as people working in the organization, as staff, really trying to support each other and face this moment like it should be faced,” Messina told ESPN after Game 3. “With support of friends. There is nothing that should be faced individually at this level of sad event. …

“They need to be proud of what they've been doing in this very difficult year. They can't feel ashamed because they're losing 3-0 to the Warriors. We have to be also proud of what we have accomplished. Sunday's another day, and hopefully we'll get to Game 5.”

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Spurs point guard Tony Parker, who is a close friend of the Popovich family, finished Game 3 with 16 points in 17 minutes.

“It's hard to think about that for me, personally, right now because there is other stuff bigger than basketball,” Parker told ESPN when asked about San Antonio's 0-3 deficit, referring to Erin's passing.

Sunday's Game 4 matchup is set to tip inside the AT&T Center at 3:30 p.m. EST with ABC having live broadcast coverage.