Spurs' Gregg Popovich tells assistant coaches to cheer up ... because pasta!

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich earned the right* to lead the Western Conference All-Star team on Feb. 14 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, which means his assistants will also get to join in the festivities.

Cause for celebration, no? For whatever reason — probably because assistant coaches Ettore Messina (immediately to Pop's right, who is from Italy) and Ime Udoka were busy mining through statistics — Popovich observed they weren't smiling during the Spurs-Rockets contest Wednesday night. Which led to this exchange: