NBA coach grabs the mic on court and begs OWN fans to stop booing rival player

When a former player returns to his old stomping ground, a hostile reception is almost guaranteed.

It's part of the game here, but apparently not across the pond in the NBA. Power forward Kawhi Leonard returned to former employers the San Antonio Spurs with the LA Clippers. Inevitably, he was booed by the home fans in the Lone Star State whenever he had the ball. Normally, the opposition dugout wouldn't care. In fact, plenty would encourage it if they thought it would offer their team an advantage.

But not Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. He decided he'd had enough and grabbed a courtside microphone MID-GAME to dish out a telling off to the fans and tell them to pack it in. He demanded: "Excuse me for a second. Can we stop all the booing and let these guys play? It's got no class and it’s not who were are. Knock off the booing."

Post-match, Popovich got testy when pressed on his interruption. He added: “I think anybody that knows anything about sports knows you don’t poke the bear. That’s all I need to say. I just told you why I did it. I gave you the answer. There’s no other questions that need to be asked.”

Leonard issued the typically diplomatic player response after the game, insisting he expected to be booed and that away from the court, everything was fine with his former fans. He explained: “If I don’t have a Spurs jersey on, they’re probably going to boo me for the rest of my career.

“They’re (some) of the best fans in the league and they’re very competitive. Once I step on this basketball court out here, they show they’re going for the other side. And when I’m on the streets or going into restaurants, they show love.”

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