San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich made headlines on Monday afternoon when he argued that Golden State Warriors big man Zaza Pachulia intentionally slid his foot out to make contact with Kawhi Leonard after a jump shot. Kawhi ended up coming down on Pachulia's foot and sprained his ankle on the play. Popovich said Pachulia's closeout was 'dangerous' and 'unsportsmanlike', and even compared the play to manslaughter.
However...
Lest we forget that Bruce Bowen, a defensive-stopper for Popovich's Spurs teams in the early 2000s, made questionable closeouts so regularly that NBA analysts started to refer to the play as 'The Bruce Bowen'. And yet when Popovich was asked about Bowen's dirty play back in 2006, he responded by saying, "The people who cry about it are just frustrated about having to against Bruce."
Gregg Popovich is ripping Pachulia for the exact same thing he defended Bowen for 11 years ago.
Is that anything other than absolute naked hypocrisy?
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