Gregg Popovich Condemns Spurs' 'Pathetic Performance' After Win vs. Mavericks

The San Antonio Spurs defeated the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night, but head coach Gregg Popovich was not in a celebratory mood.

Facing a two-win opponent—no other NBA team has fewer than four victories this season—at home, the Spurs narrowly salvaged a 96-91 triumph. While a handful of key contributors (Dirk Nowitzki, Deron Williams, J.J. Barea and Andrew Bogut) sat for Dallas, San Antonio played without Tony Parker and LaMarcus Aldridge.

Usually, the winning coach will credit the other guys for fighting hard and will talk about how no win in this league is a given, especially with two key players sidelined.

Popovich, of course, is not most coaches. He lambasted his 11-3 squad for a "pathetic performance":

"

You know, they had some guys out, we had some guys out, but they had a lot more out than we did. I thought we showed a lack of humility, a lack of respect for the opponent, a very pathetic performance at both ends of the court, both in execution and in grunt, in fiber, in desire. It was an awful performance.

"

Just when his rant appeared over, he returned to deliver the final blow.

"Oh, and they deserved to win the basketball game, I forgot to say that."

[Casey Keirnan]