Watch: Some think Gregg Popovich went too far with his game 1 antics
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has a few things in common with New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick.
Both men are among the best and most accomplished coaches not only in their respective sports, but of all time. They are also both known to be downright rude when they lose.
The Spurs got manhandled by the Golden State Warriors on Saturday in Game 1 of the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, and Popovich was not in the mood for questions from the media either during or after the game.
He had little to say to ESPN’s Lisa Salters after the end of the first quarter, when the Warriors had already jumped out to a double-digit lead.
“I heard you tell your guys a couple minutes ago, ‘This is called adversity. Get through it.’ What has to change for them to get through it?” Salters asked.
“Well, we have to play a little bit better,” Popovich answered.
classic gregg popovich pic.twitter.com/1rVtpi9foQ
— Jordan Heck (@JordanHeckFF) April 14, 2018
“Coming into the game, you said you have to defend Kevin Durant better. He had 11 in that first quarter. What has to happen different to play him better?” Salters then asked.
“We have to play him better,” said Popovich.
Poor Lisa Salters has the most thankless job in sports: Interviewing Gregg Popovich when the Spurs are behind #WeGottaPlayBetter #WeGottaPlayBetter
— Jacob Gleason (@GleasBball) April 14, 2018
In the postgame news conference, Popovich tried a little humor to lighten the mood, joking about a bottle of Gatorade left behind on the table.
Gregg Popovich in Gregg Popovich form even before postgame press conference began in Oakland. Not a fan of Gatorade apparently. 😂 pic.twitter.com/DVkHRLSULS
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) April 14, 2018
“(This is) supposed to be here?” he asked, holding up the Gatorade bottle. “What if I don’t like this? There’s too much sugar and all that kind of stuff. I don’t want to promote that.”
“I’m just teasing. Have a sense of humor, will ya? Just because you got your a– kicked tonight doesn’t mean you have to have no sense of humor. OK, what do you want?” Popovich continued.
Gregg Popovich wasted no time to clown the media after game 1 of the Spurs-Warriors series pic.twitter.com/7Huy13SWOg
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) April 14, 2018
“I’m so tired of this,” he said before taking questions from the media. To be fair, it’s probably not a lot of fun for the media either.
“What went wrong for you guys tonight?” one reporter asked the coach.
“They played better than we did,” Popovich repsonded.
Another reporter asked: “You started Danny Green basically on Kevin (Durant). Did that work very well?”
“Did you watch the game? What do you think?” Popovich asked the reporter.
“It didn’t,” the reporter answered.
“It didn’t work very well,” Popovich said in agreement. “So we’ll have Danny grow four of five inches by Monday night, tell him to jump higher and move quicker. And we’ll tell Kevin, ‘Don’t be so good.’”
Gregg Popovich on the #Spurs performance against the #Warriors in game 1:
"They had more grunt. They had more physicality… First quarter we looked like 'deer in the headlights'" pic.twitter.com/9MJFZbkOTg
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) April 14, 2018
He did answer a few questions seriously, but then after being flip and belittling the reporters, wondered why there were no more questions.
“Come on, you’re getting paid. Ask something,” Popovich said. After no one responded he said, “That’s it. OK. Have a good night.”
There are very few things that are more terrifying in life then asking Gregg Popovich a question
— YourSports (@YourSports) April 14, 2018
There’s not a lot to say when you’re team gets crushed 113-92, but there’s no need to take out your frustrations on reporters for trying to do their job.
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