A great illustration by artist Jack Perkins of San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, who just celebrated his 1000 career win. Plus 10 of his greatest quotes.
“You have to make shots to win basketball games and we didn’t do that. You also have to get back on defense, so it was a double-whammy.”
“Eliminating back-to-backs when you go in the wrong direction and lose time and go to bed at 4 in the morning for the second game is very difficult for teams, as we have learned. You just can’t bring the juice for 48 minutes. It shows in the discipline on the court and the execution on the court. If it was possible to change the entire schedule for everybody to have fewer of those, the quality would improve, without a doubt.”
“We didn’t send mariachi bands or birthday cards or breakfast in bed.”
“And I look forward to seeing all of you in four or five years when we have the next Nellie retirement party in another town.”
“We suck on ‘D. Both individually and team-wise, we suck. We’re pretty consistent that way. I don’t know if I have an answer to that. If I did, we wouldn’t suck quite so bad.”
“I asked them if it wasn’t too much trouble, if I wasn’t being too pushy, if they could execute what we were trying to do. And if it didn’t make them too angry, if they also wanted to play some defense on the other end, that would be great.”
“When I came down to St. Croix to see Timmy eight or nine years ago, nobody said a word to me (about driving on the left side), … I got my rental car and I went out on the road, and I was gesticulating at like 10 people before I realized I was the jerk.”
“In Phil’s case, I was personally thrilled he came back, because I think it’s huge for the league. When you think about what he’s done and how many championships he’s won, there’s always drama when he comes back in.”
“He found a realtor, looked at homes, bought one and furnished it, got a mortgage and the whole deal, … Did it all when he was 19. I don’t know if I could find my way out of town.”
“We would have two less championships here if it was not for Manu Ginobili. In my eyes, he’s the stud of the world”
Extra Pop
H/N Successories + Bleacher Report
