Whether he intended to do it or not, San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich paid homage on Wednesday night to former Bengals coach Sam Wyche.
In December 1989, after fans at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium were throwing snowballs, Wyche found a microphone and spoke directly to the crowd.
“Will the next person that sees anybody throw anything onto this field point them out and get them out of here?” Wyche said. And then he yelled, “You don’t live in Cleveland, you live in Cincinnati!“
Popovich found a microphone last night to urge San Antonio fans to stop giving former Spurs star Kawhi Leonard a hard time.
“Excuse me for a second,” Popovich said. “Can we stop all the booing and let these guys play? Have a little class. That’s not who we are. Knock off the booing.”
Speaking to reporters after the loss, Popovich repeatedly said he was trying to prevent the home crowd from “poking the bear.”
It didn’t work. The boos got louder. Leonard, who had scored eight points before Popovich said what he said, scored 18 more. And the Clippers won the game, 109-102.