Popovich explains why he held out DeMar DeRozan for final play

DeMar DeRozan was on the bench for the final play in Wednesday’s San Antonio Spurs-Philadelphia 76ers game, leading to some questions. Following the game, Gregg Popovich shared his reasoning for the decision.

Popovich says he held DeRozan out because he wanted his best 3-point shooters on the floor.

Gregg Popovich says he took out DeMar DeRozan for the final possession in order to get as much 3-point shooting on the floor as possible. "We didn't want to go to overtime."

— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) January 24, 2019

The Spurs lost to the Sixers 122-120. DeRozan was blocked on a go-ahead layup attempt on the Spurs’ previous possession, which might have upset Popovich.

DeRozan gets blocked and the Sixers get the W. pic.twitter.com/ToL7YIqImC

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 24, 2019

DeRozan had 26 points in the game and is the Spurs’ leading scorer. Seeing him out for the play was surprising, but it makes sense since DeRozan isn’t a 3-point shooter. This isn’t the first time DeRozan’s been benched at the end of a game before, as the same thing also happened in Toronto. We’ll see if it creates any hard feelings.