Gregg Popovich had to take matters — and the microphone — into his own hands on Wednesday night.
During the Spurs’ 109-102 loss to the Clippers, the legendary San Antonio head coach had clearly had enough with the booing Kawhi Leonard was facing at the free throw line.
Leonard spent seven years with the Spurs, helping the team win the NBA Finals in 2014.
He was traded to the Raptors in the 2018 offseason, amid reports he wanted out of San Antonio, and won a title in Toronto in his one and only season there.
But despite the five-time All-Star’s contributions to the franchise, the fans at Frost Bank Center were letting him hear it while he was at the free throw line during the final minutes of the second quarter.
Leonard, getting showered with boos, sank his first free throw, but as he got ready to take his next shot, Popovich took a microphone at the scorer’s table and let the home crowd hear it.
“Excuse me for a second,” the Spurs coach said. “Can we stop all the booing and let these guys play? It’s got no class, it’s not who we are. Knock off the booing.”
As Popovich dropped the mic and walked back toward the bench, he started to hear it from the crowd, though he literally waved them off in a last attempt to get them to stop.
After the game, Popovich responded to a question about his actions.
“Anybody that knows anything about sports knows you don’t poke the bear,” Popovich said, according to the Associated Press. “That’s my answer.”
Whether or not Spurs fans pushed Leonard to work harder, he did score a team-high 26 points in the Clippers’ win.
Leonard wasn’t bothered by the booing and said he still has nothing but respect for the Spurs fans
“If I don’t have a Spurs jersey on, they are probably going to boo me for the rest of my career,” Leonard told the AP after the Clippers’ victory on Wednesday. “It is what it is. They are one of the best fans in the league and they are very competitive. Once I stand on this basketball court out here, they are going to show that they are going for the other side. When I’m on the streets or going into a restaurant, they show love. It is what it is.”
Leonard and the Clippers also ripped the Spurs 124-99 on Monday in San Antonio, and fans let him hear it with boos when he touched the ball throughout the night.
The boos might not be new, but Popovich’s actions sure feel like it in what was truly an unreal scene in Texas.
