As if the Pacers didn’t have enough problems already... Pacers assistant coach Greg Foster lashed out at defiant Pacers player Goga Bitadze during Indiana’s loss to the Kings last night.
Foster appeared to call out Bitadze for a blown defensive assignment. Bitadze then hit a 3-pointer and appeared to tell Foster, “Sit the f*** down.” Foster became so heated, he was restrained from going after the player.
Pacers coach Nate Bjorkgren’s strategy? Downplay the incident.
Bjorkgren, via Scott Horner of The Indianapolis Star:
Bjorkgren is right: Sometimes, tempers flare in competitive situations.
But these moments look bad. Everyone knows they look bad.
So, the aggrieved people usually wait to unleash their anger until in private.
That Foster and Bitadze didn’t was telling about just how upset they were. Especially Foster knew he was in an arena with cameras all around – and still kept going after Bitadze.
J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star:
This answer was too generic for me so asked Bjorkgren if he addressed this incident with these 2 postgame: "I talked to both of them about it. .... I had individual conversations." ... Says he'll address it again to figure out why/how this happened https://t.co/DubE3NSqkq
— J. Michael (@ThisIsJMichael) May 6, 2021
Fairly or not, given that he was already on the hot seat, it looks like Bjorkgren has lost the team.
It didn’t help that Indiana got routed by lowly Sacramento, which had neither De’Aaron Fox nor Tyrese Haliburton.
