SAN ANTONIO – One of the more interesting moments of Saturday night’s Spurs loss to the Portland Trailblazers was the coaching dynamic after officials ejected Gregg Popovich.
Popovich’s ejection led to the presumption that Becky Hammon would take over as acting head coach, but it was in fact Tim Duncan, who took over in that role.
It was unclear at the time of Popovich’s ejection who would take lead, but the Spurs head coach clarified who was running the team after the game.
“Timmy was,” Popovich said.
Had Hammon taken over, she would have made history by becoming the first woman to serve as head coach of a major men’s professional sports team in the United States.
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Popovich was asked if he considered that it would have been a historic moment.
“I’m not here to make history,” Popovich replied.
Spurs analyst Matt Bonner said during the postgame broadcast that Duncan essentially served as acting head coach because he had scouted the Trailblazers.
Spurs officials said during the game that a three-coach committee consisting of Duncan, Hammon and Will Hardy took over head coaching duties.