Gregg Popovich has been around the San Antonio Spurs all season, talking to players at practices, offering advice, and being the wise elder statesman that he is.
However, he is no longer the coach, so he had not entered the team’s locker room postgame all season long… until after Game 3. That ugly loss changed things and Popovich lit a fire under the team, De’Aaron Fox told the Showtime crew in NBC after the Spurs bounced back in Game 3.
“Pop’s been around throughout the course of the season, but that was the first time he walked into the locker room. And it was like, ‘Nah, that BS. That’s not how we play basketball.’ And obviously he had some choice words for us. That was the first time all season he came into the locker room right after the game and told us how he felt — and everybody felt that. Mitch (Johnson, Spurs coach), B-Wright (Brian Wright, Spurs GM) was in there, all the players down to the staff. And that was the first time I seen that. Everybody was in there, trainers, everybody’s in there. We close the doors, we don’t let anybody know what’s going on in there. We open that door, we see Pop come in, and it’s like, ‘Awwww.’”
Whatever Popovich said worked. Well, that along with a monster game from Victor Wembanyama plus some really smart defensive adjustments.
The Spurs and Thunder are tied 2-2, but it feels like San Antonio has the momentum as the series shifts back to Oklahoma City for a critical Game 5 on Tuesday night, which tips off at 8:30 p.m. ET and you can watch on NBC or stream on Peacock.