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It’s not under ideal circumstances, but for the first time Becky Hammon is the acting head coach for the Spurs after Gregg Popovich (understandably) got himself tossed in the second quarter against the Lakers over some rather “one-sided” officiating.
Greg Popovich was just ejected from the gamepic.twitter.com/sonsgUaPbW
— Laker Highlight (@LakerHighlight) December 31, 2020
Although this likely doesn’t count in an official capacity for the record books, this by all intents and purposes makes Hammon the first female to coach in a regular season NBA game. She has already made history by coaching the Spurs summer league squad and in the preseason, but this is the first time in a game that counts towards the standings. In recent seasons when Pop was ejected, it was usually “head coach by committee”, and in the one game he missed last season, Tim Duncan was the acting head coach. Now, there is no doubt.
The Spurs are having a rough game against the defending champions, but as they have already shown in previous games, they won’t be going down without a fight.