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Popovich Responds To Sarver's Comments About Players Not Traveling To Game

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on Saturday responded to comments made by Suns Owner Robert Sarver during Thursday's Spurs-Suns preseason matchup, when Sarver apologized "for the lackluster game" and offered "credit to ticketed attendees after the Hall of Fame coach and five Spurs players missed the game," according to Dan McCarney of the SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS. Popovich said, "The silliness begins. Most wise individuals would check facts before they made statements. Unless you’re interested in putting on a show. In that case, the facts get in your way, as in this case." He added, "The only thing that surprises me is that he didn’t say it in a chicken suit" (MYSANANTONIO.com, 10/18). ESPN’s Israel Gutierrez said the Sarver-Popovich beef "goes back over about a decade," as Sarver in '05 was mad at the Spurs "for sitting some guys." Gutierrez: "He flapped his wings up and down and like a chicken walking up and down the sideline.” N.Y. Daily News’ Frank Isola added, “This goes back to the rivalry that they’ve had when the Spurs benefited from the Suns being suspended for that game (in '07) when Robert Horry hip-checked Steve Nash into the scorer’s table." But L.A. Times columnist Bill Plaschke said, “He's trying to embarrass the Spurs over a preseason exhibition game in which fans shouldn't be charged to come to the game at all. What did Suns fans see? They saw a 31-point victory, Dragic scored 20 points. You go to an exhibition game, that's what you expect to see.” Columnist Kevin Blackistone: "You should be promoting your own team. This is loser talk from an owner anytime you're selling the fact that the other team coming in has the players that you really want your fans to see. How about putting a championship team together? You’d be better off” (“Around the Horn,” ESPN, 10/17).

SEE AND BE SEEN: ESPN’s Michael Wilbon said if he was NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, he would call up the Spurs and say, "Here is how we're going to do this, fellas. I might let it go whoever you play or bench even during the regular season, even the playoffs because you get it right because you win. But you're going to travel. You’re going to travel and you're going to sit there and be available.” ESPN's Tony Kornheiser said of Sarver's comments, "This took some guts. He wasn't calling out Popovich and he wasn't calling out the players. He was calling out the owner, Peter Holt. He was saying, ‘You're my partner and you did this to me. You had the power to prevent this and you came up small.’ That's exactly what he was doing. I applaud it” (“PTI,” ESPN, 10/17).

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