San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich is without a doubt one of the best coaches to ever hit the NBA sidelines. He is the winningest coach of the league and also one the most real – bringing his A-game every time he steps foot in the court as well as the cameras. Pop is known to give out hilarious and provocative interviews, leaving reporters (and fans) literally wanting for more. Here are some of Coach Popovich's best on-cam interviews.
In April of 2019, the legendary coach was thrown out of their game against the Denver Nuggets one minute into the game. And, when Nuggets head coach Mike Malone was doing his post-game interview, Gregg Popovich crashes it and jokingly asks what they were talking about. Malone said that someone just broke the record for being thrown out within 63 seconds of the game. His answer was classic Pop.
The Spurs were up big against state-rivals the Dallas Mavericks back in 2014 when former head coach and ESPN anchor Jeff Van Gundy was tasked to do an in-game interview with Popovich. Given that the Spurs had a huge lead at that point, the mood was a little lighter than usual. Van Gundy kept telling Pop that he was nervous about the interview and that he had asked a lot of the other reporters how to go about it. The Spurs head coach cut Van Gundy and simply hugged him before heading to the bench. Unfortunately, no actual question was asked (or answered).
After a surprise exit in the 2016 Playoffs against the young Oklahoma City Thunder, it was no shock that Pop wasn't in the best of moods facing the media for the post-game presser. The 71-year old head coach though still ended up with a W against the media with a series of savage responses. Only Pop can pull off something like this after being eliminated in the Western Conference Finals.
In October 2013, the Spurs were hosting a pre-season game against the Houston Rockets when Craig Sager brought out Pop's inner-Allen Iverson on a sideline interview just before the tune-up game started. “We're doing this in the pre-season??” Pop asked Sager in jest. Sager went on with his questioning and asked what the biggest challenge offseason challenge was for the head coach. In typical Pop fashion, the head coach said that the main hurdle was getting to the restaurant in time. Fortunately for Sager, Pop did answer one of his questions rather seriously.
Rounding up our list is another one of his more memorable interviews with the great Craig Sager. Sager, who had been battling cancer for a year and a half, was finally back on the sidelines as the Spurs faced the Memphis Grizzlies in December of 2015. Pop, who's usually quite cold and restrained during his in-game interviews didn't hold back and gave the legendary reporter one of the best welcome back spiels ever. After a couple of heart-warming sentences, vintage Pop was back and told Sager to proceed with his inane interview. This was definitely one of the best Coack Pop moments caught on cam.
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