Following the death of his wife earlier this week, it’s looking more and more like San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich will not man the bench again this season.
Popovich missed the team’s Game 3 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Thursday with assistant head coach Ettore Messina taking the lead role.
Now, according to ESPN’s Marc J. Spears, Messina will again be San Antonio’s head coach for the team’s Game 4 outing against Golden State on Sunday.
Spurs say Ettore Messina will serve as head coach for tomorrow’s Spurs-Warriors Game 4.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) April 21, 2018
Popovich’s wife, Erin, passed away on Wednesday after a long battle with an unnamed illness. The two had been married for four decades at the time of her death. This tragic news hit the NBA community extremely hard, with both Gregg and Erin being widely respected around Association circles.
It goes without saying that Popovich’s focus is somewhere else. As it should be.
San Antonio is down 3-0 in its first-round series against the defending champs. It will look to fend off elimination at home Sunday afternoon.