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Gregg Popovich: Spurs win over Mavericks still 'a very pathetic performance'

Ben Rohrbach
Senior NBA writer

The Dallas Mavericks are not a very good basketball team, especially with a trio of starters and three point guards missing from the depth chart. Their 2-11 record ranks last in the entire NBA, two fewer wins than seven other bottom-dweller clubs, including the Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets.

San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich understands this as well as any of us, which is why he raked his team over the coals, despite starting two rookies in place of resting All-Star contributors LaMarcus Aldridge and Tony Parker in his own undermanned lineup and still defeating the Mavericks, 96-91.

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Popovich opened his postgame media session with a 30-second statement, dubbing the effort as both a “pathetic” and “awful performance,” according to San Antonio Express-News reporter Jeff McDonald.

“It was a pathetic performance on the part of the Spurs,” he said. “They had some guys out, we had some guys out, but they had a lot more out than we did. I thought we showed a lack of humility, a lack of respect for the opponent, a very pathetic performance at both ends of the court, both in execution and in grunt, in fiber, in desire. It was an awful performance.”

Popovich then took no questions and exited through the door behind him, only to return seven seconds later to add, “Oh, and they deserved to win the basketball game. I forgot to say that.”

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Indeed, the Mavericks were the first team to feature four undrafted starters — Wes Matthews, Seth Curry, Salah Mejri and Dorian Finney-Smith — in more than 15 years, according to the Express-News, and still had a chance to tie the game when Curry’s open 3-pointer sailed wide with six seconds left.

Even with rookies Dejounte Murray and Davis Bertans starting in place of Parker and Aldridge, alongside regulars Kawhi Leonard, Pau Gasol and Danny Green, the Spurs (11-3) still had the depth advantage, with their usual bench rotation all available. Leonard, Gasol, Patty Mills and David Lee all reached double figures offensively, and as a team they registered a respectable 55.8 true shooting percentage — slightly better than their opponents (55.0). San Antonio also had 24 assists on their 35 field goals, eight more than Dallas on the same amount of attempts. This wasn’t about the offense.

The Spurs were slightly out-rebounded, 40-39 overall and 10-8 on the offensive end, but forced more turnovers (17) than they committed (14) and scored two more points off those giveaways. As far as the NBA’s new-fangled “hustle stats” are concerned, there wasn’t much difference there, either:

Screen assists: Spurs 9, Mavericks 8
Deflections: Mavericks 17, Spurs 14
Loose balls recovered: Spurs 4, Mavericks 3
Charges drawn: Spurs 0, Mavericks 0
Contested two-point shots: Mavericks 43, Spurs 36
Contested three-point shots: Spurs 25, Mavericks 20
Total contested shots: Mavericks 63, Spurs 61

Regardless of the stats this wasn’t a pretty performance by a team known for its beautiful basketball. As Mills told the Express-News afterward, “There is such a thing as an ugly win, and that’s probably it.”

It was, however, vintage Popovich, criticizing his team with no concern for the two missing starters from a group that has won six straight games and ranks in the NBA’s top 10 on both offense and defense — and still won a division game opposite a great coach on the other sideline. This was about longterm motivation and building the sort of depth that can help make the Spurs a contender.

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And his players, both old and new, understood that, which is what makes the Spurs such a machine. It’s hard not to listen to a coach who notched his 1,100th career win on Monday and recently passed Larry Brown for seventh on the all-time coaching wins list (in 416 fewer games). Popovich publicly sends a message, his players hear it loud and clear, and the result is almost always a 50-win season.

To wit, Manu Ginobili said, via the Express-News, “We were kind of irresponsible. We were not as sharp as this league demands you to be, and we almost lost the game.” Gasol expressed similar sentiment:

But if you’re looking this from the Mavericks’ perspective, though, the fact their effort — “The guys were fighting their asses off,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle told reporters after the game — fell five points short against a less-than-full-strength Spurs team and should have been far worse, at least according to Popovich, has to be discouraging for a team that’s made the playoffs 15 of the past 16 seasons.

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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!