Gregg Popovich’s Spurs fought the Knicks down to the wire on Wednesday night, but couldn’t get enough stops in a 117-114 loss that saw both sides have their struggles on the defensive end.
Both teams shot 50 percent from the floor, while Jalen Brunson poured in 38 points, a career high for the regular season. Popovich praised Brunson after the game, but also called out the state of the NBA.
“It's much more difficult to play defense,” Popovich said. “I’m just hoping the league ends up with a 4-point shot or a 5-point shot so we can make it a real circus. Then it’ll be a different sport. It won’t even be basketball, it’ll just be a bunch of crap.”
This is far from the first time Popovich has criticized the modern look of the game and the heavy reliance on the 3-pointer, and eye-opening sentiment from one of the most accomplished head coaches in the sport. For Boomer Esiason, it was another piece of evidence that the league may actually benefit from doing away with the 3-point shot.
“Here’s one of your great basketball coaches of all time basically telling you that this thing is basically a circus already,” Boomer said.
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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