The Golden State Warriors won a complete blowout over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 1 of their NBA playoff matchup, and head coach Gregg Popovich was clearly pissed about it.
Gregg Popovich’s rude answers to media questions are getting old
This bit has gotten old. It just comes off as disrespectful.
In a second quarter interview with ESPN’s Lisa Salters, he gave two answers to two questions in 16 insincere words. Here’s video, and the interview is transcribed below:
Salters: 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?
Popovich: Well, we have to play a little bit better.
Salters: 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?
Popovich; We have to play him better.
This is nothing new from Popovich, who has a history of treating sideline interviews this way, and Salters had no choice but to abruptly end her live spot. It was uncomfortable for everyone.
Pop’s bit is more than played out at this point, but that didn’t stop his media roast at the end of the game, too. (To be fair he wasn’t asked the most enlightening questions, but he continued to be unnecessarily rude.)
Popovich: Just because you got your ass kicked doesn’t mean you have to lose your sense of humor. ‘Ok what do you guys want.’
Reporter 1: What went wrong for you guys tonight?
Popovich: They played better than we did.
Reporter 2: You started Danny Green on Kevin Durant. Did they work very well?
Popovich: Did you watch the game? What do you think?
Reporter 2: It didn’t.
Popovich: It didn’t work very well. 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.’
I think we get it at this point, Pop. The joke’s lost its flavor, and merely comes off as disrespectful. There are plenty of times reporters ask ill-informed or overall just bad questions that are acceptable to roast. These weren’t those times.
It’s bizarre we’re holding players to a higher standard than coaches, and I hope this changes.
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