Come on, that was funny. In the second quarter of Thursday night’s game against the San Antonio Spurs, Gregg Popovich practically asked to be thrown out of the game. He stormed the court in frustration over a call, or maybe multiple calls, to confront the referees. And since this act was so obviously orchestrated by Coach Pop in an attempt to get ejected from the game, and Emmanuel Mudiay just happened to be standing right in the middle of it all, the Nuggets’ point guard had some fun with it.
I remember watching this when it happened, and all I did was chuckle a little without thinking too much about it. But apparently Mudiay must have gotten some negative responses for the motion, because he issued this apology after the game:
The best thing about Mudiay, in my opinion, is how he carries himself off the court. He seems like a genuine person, and the fact that he apologized for something like this, when it should have just been seen by everyone as some good-natured trolling, speaks volumes about who he is. I didn’t see what he did in any way disrespectful, as he was simply drawing attention to Pop’s behavior by mimicking a referee. If Pop can storm the court and shout at a referee, with the obvious intention of trying to get ejected, then a player should be able to have some fun with that. It wasn’t particularly an emotional part of the game, so I didn’t see his actions as pouring salt on the wounds or anything of the sort. Mudiay said it himself after the game – Popovich must not have wanted to coach last night.
I don’t know how many times I’ve watched that clip, but it never stops getting funny. Props to Mudiay for apologizing to those he may have offended, but I think most of Nuggets Nation agrees with me – that was just funny.
