National Basketball Association

Gregg Popovich gets ejected for telling a referee he's terrible (Video)

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 12:52 p.m. ET

Fansided, John Buhler/Fansided

The San Antonio Spurs are not having a good day. Pau Gasol broke his hand during warmups and Gregg Popovich got ejected for telling the referee he’s terrible.

Thursday, Jan. 19 was not a good day for the San Antonio Spurs. It was the first game of the second half of their season. After starting the year out 32-9, the Spurs lost power forward Pau Gasol to a broken hand in warmups and head coach Gregg Popovich to an ejection in the same night.

Popovich just kept yapping at the officials during the Spurs’ home game against the Denver Nuggets. He would get a technical and then proceed to chase down the official, saying very loudly, “You’re a terrible referee.”

Spurs’ Gregg Popovich gets ejected (“You’re a terrible referee”) and gets standing ovation from AT&T Center crowd pic.twitter.com/bEZP8WP8qf

— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) January 20, 2017

Naturally, Popovich was ejected before halftime at the AT&T Center. The San Antonio faithful gave their favorite head coach a standing ovation. Expect NBA commissioner Adam Silver to levy a fine on Popovich for his outburst on the referees on Thursday night.

Popovich is by far and away the best active coach in the NBA. He has won five NBA championships and been to a sixth NBA Finals since taking over the Spurs over two decades ago. He’s easily on the Mount Rushmore of NBA head coaches.

That being said, he does tend to get snarky with officials and sideline reporters when things don’t go the Spurs’ way. It’s an understandably frustrating night to lose a player like Gasol in warmups and to have a mediocre team like the Denver Nuggets push you around in your own building.

When Popovich got a technical, he pretty much made up his mind that he was going to get ejected. Screaming “You’re a terrible referee” was hilarious. It got a reaction out of the AT&T Center crowd. Frankly, it made Nuggets second-year point guard Emmanuel Mudiay giggle a bit. All in all, this is why people love Popovich.