The Spurs managed to come back from a 32-15 deficit after the first quarter against the Thunder to get a 104-101 win at home on Friday night and improve to 10-6 on the season without Kawhi Leonard.
The win was big for San Antonio, as they continue to stay above water despite the absence of their star, but it wasn’t earned without significant frustration for coach Gregg Popovich. Aside from his team’s poor start to the game, Popovich had his issues with the officiating as well.
There was one play in particular that led to a rather hilarious sideline meltdown from Pop, after the refs ruled the ball went out of bounds off of the Spurs. A Rudy Gay pass sailed high and both Andre Roberson and Manu Ginobili reached up for it as it got tipped over their heads to the sideline. The refs gave it to Oklahoma City, which set Pop off on the sidelines in a pretty hilarious meltdown as he called the refs “f*cking blind,” as spotted by reddit user EvanH98.
You can read his lips as he yells “all three of you, 1, 2, 3, f*cking blind.” Pop managed to avoid a technical despite the quick blowup and in the end his team overcame their own issues and potential missteps from the officials to get the win.
While it’s not quite Larry Sanders giving all three referees a thumbs up after getting ejected, it’s still a pretty great mini-meltdown. The hand motion to cover his eyes really set it apart, in case they couldn’t hear him but were looking at him. I also really enjoy Mike Breen not understanding why Pop was so mad, as Ginobili very well might have touched it and Rudy Gay got away with a travel right before it.
