Gregg Popovich officially retired as the San Antonio Spurs head coach a year ago,but he’s still making a big impact on the team.
Popovich spoke to the team in a closed-door meeting following their 123-108 loss at home in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals on Friday night, basically telling them with some colorful language their effort wasn’t good enough.
Advertisement
“Pop’s been around throughout the course of the season, but that was the first time he walked into the locker room and was like, ‘Nah, that’s B.S. That’s not how we play basketball,’” point guard De’Aaron Fox said on NBC’s “NBA Showtime” after the Spurs evened the series at 2-2 with a 103-82 rout in Game 4.
“And obviously he had some choice words for us, but that was the first time all season that he came into the locker room right after a game and told us how he felt. And everybody felt that…
“That’s the first time I’ve ever seen that, trainers, everybody’s in there. We close the doors, we don’t let anybody know what’s going on. But that’s the first time. He opened that door, we see Pop come in and it’s like awww…”
Fox went for 12 points and 10 rebounds and Victor Wembanyama returned to his dominant self with 33 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals, including a 3-pointer from halfcourt just before halftime.
Advertisement
The Spurs held the defending NBA champions to their fewest points in a game since December 2021. It was the Thunder’s first road loss this postseason.
“We didn’t do nothing unexpected, but the truth is that we had never been in this kind of situation before,” Wembanyama told reporters.
MORE BY
ADAM ZAGORIA
Kenny Atkinson claims Cavaliers are ‘analytically’ beating KnicksMay. 25, 2026, 7:16 a.m.
“It was our first deficit and we just responded. It was nothing amazing, it wasn’t magic. We just did what we needed to do.”
Advertisement
Said Thunder star and two-time NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: “They just punched us in our face early. It’s two games in a row they’ve come out the aggressors. Last game we were able to course-correct. Tonight we just didn’t do so.”
Game 5 is set for Tuesday night back in Oklahoma City.
Read the original article on NJ.com. Add NJ.com as a Preferred Source by clicking here.