San Antonio Spurs Coach Greg Popovich chose Thursday to send his Big Three — Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili (and Danny Green) — home rather than have them travel to Miami to play the Heat.
Fans who had paid top dollar for Spurs-Heat were upset. Hoops purists took their outrage to Twitter. Fantasy enthusiasts moaned. Commissioner David Stern, who is just over a year away from his retirement, was shocked, shocked to see this sort of thing happen in a nationally-televised game on TNT. He fired off a statement promising promising some sort of doom:
“I apologize to all NBA fans. This was an unacceptable decision by the San Antonio Spurs and substantial sanctions will be forthcoming.”
