During last night’s Spurs-Suns game in Phoenix, the San Antonio side was missing a large portion of their personnel. That’s because coach Gregg Popovich joined five Spurs (including Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard) who missed San Antonio’s trip to Phoenix. Suns owner Robert Sarver, took time mid-game to apologize to his fans for the absence.
San Antonio is the 2014 NBA champion, but this a preseason game, and Popovich has been known to hold out his starters during regular season games, even nationally televised ones against their former Finals foes, which prompted a quarter-million dollar fine.
Still, Sarver felt bad for his fans and grabbed the PA’s mic mid-way through Phoenix’s 121-90 cakewalk last night. Here’s what he said in the video below:
“Hey everybody, I want to thank you for coming out tonight. This is not the game you paid your hard-earned money to watch. I apologize for it. And I want you to send me your tickets if you came tonight, with a return envelope, and I’ve got a gift for you on behalf of the Suns for showing up tonight.”
Still, the fans got to see a win at least.
The Suns’ three-headed attacked guard attack led the way, with Goran Dragic scoring a game-high 20 points to go with six assists, Eric Bledsoe adding 16 and six dimes and Isaiah Thomas pouring in 15 points and dishing five assists.
(videos via Basketball Orbit)
Fair or foul for San Antonio to rest so many players in preseason?
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