Gregg Popovich Absolutely Laid into the Spurs Following Close Win

Coach Pop with the best rant of the year after beating the worst team in the NBA. Wait for it… — Casey Keirnan (@CaseyKeirnan)November 22, 2016

The San Antonio Spurs raised their record to 11-3 Monday night by defeating a shorthanded Dallas Mavericks team at home by the score of 96-91. As you can imagine, their head coach was furious.

Welcome to the world of Gregg Popovich, where excellence is the norm and lackluster wins are unacceptable.

The Mavs are probably the worst team in the NBA at the moment, sporting a league-low two wins, and they were missing Dirk Nowitzki, Deron Williams, J.J. Barea, and Andrew Bogut. Still, they are coached by Rick Carlisle, one of a handful of people in the league who even belong in the same conversation with Popovich in terms of elite coaches. Dallas jumped out to a 28-24 lead after the first quarter, but the Spurs' superior talent eventually won the day.

Coach Pop was so furious with his team's effort that he refused to take questions after the game. Instead, he delivered a blistering rebuke to his team:

"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."

He ended the impromptu press conference by declaring that Dallas deserved to win the game before disappearing in a huff.

Be afraid, Spurs players. Be very afraid.