Mavericks rookie big man Salah Mejri threw down a dunk with his team down 20 to San Antonio on Friday night. This in itself is rather unremarkable. What is hilarious, though, is the fact that he appeared to turn to the Spurs bench and talk some trash.
Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan had the only appropriate reaction for when a rookie playing in a game down 20 gives it to a pair of the game’s legends: they laughed at him.
Pop and Tim laughing about Meijri @poundingtherock pic.twitter.com/K7cfqGGET9
— Megan (@MegaMaz) February 6, 2016
Popovich’s utter confusion and apparent wisecrack at Duncan is just perfect.
So, Salah, what did you say?
“He was in my vision, but I did not yell at him,” said Mejri, via Tim MacMahon of ESPN. “He is one of the greatest coaches in the league, so I don’t think it’s a good idea to yell at him. I never did that in my life.
“I did not yell at their bench. I had no problem with nobody, but I was excited about the dunk. You can ask their coach if I said something bad, but I did not.”
Popovich was, indeed, asked what was said.
“I have no idea,” Popovich said. “It was pretty funny, though.”
Mejri went on to apologize on Twitter, just to be safe.
Needless to say, trash talking Popovich isn’t really a great idea no matter how much experience you have. Heck, talking to him at all is generally a risk, especially if you’re a reporter.
