Popovich: 'Everybody's getting paid for these questions, right?'
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is a difficult interview even when his team is winning.
He's well-known for his distaste for questions he doesn't like. His answers are usually brief and sometimes abrupt.
Popovich, whose Spurs won the NBA title in June, seemed more over the top than usual in his interview Monday before the Spurs game against the Clippers.
Asked about the importance of the game, Popovich said, with plenty of sarcasm: "How important is it? You stay up all night to think of that question? How important is this game tonight? It's reallly important. Nothing is more important in this world than this game. Come on, give me a question."
Next question.
Next brief answer.
"If you could repeat it, I think you'd do it right?" Popovich said of trying to find the formula to win back-to-back NBA championships. "Everybody's getting paid for these questions, right?"
Watch and be judge of this popovich answer b4 @laclippers @nba game vs @spurs. Usual pop or over top? @fo https://t.co/QxXpt6xjgj
— Jill Painter Lopez (@jillpainter) November 11, 2014
Asked about how he manages everyone's minutes, Popovich said: "It's called the seat of my pants."
Of course, Popovich might be more on edge than usual since the Spurs off to a disappointing 2-3 start, and they have yet to win a road game. They lost to the Pelicans on a driving layup by Anthony Davis with six seconds left in Saturday's game in San Antonio. And Popovich benched Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker for the end of that debacle.
In talking about roles for players and how he gets them to accept them, Popvich jokingly said: "I threaten them."
After Popovich's opening act, he was quite serious in his praise of what his friend Doc Rivers has done for the Clippers since he took over last year.
"Doc could take over anything and there's going to be a certain perception that takes place because he's a hell of a leader," Popvich said. "I don't say that just because he's a friend. He's got a heck of a presence. He's highly intelligent. He's incisive. He's got a personality. That pervades whatever situation he might be involved in, whether he's running a bank or an NBA team. That's the truth."
We can handle the truth. But can we handle Popovich?
