Gregg Popovich recently made history, as he became the coach with the most wins in NBA history. Popovich is currently the longest-tenured coach in the NBA by some margin, having coached in the league for 26 years. In that time, he has found incredible success and has established himself as one of, if not the greatest coach in NBA history.
One of the biggest feathers in Pop’s cap has been the relationships he builds with his players. The team dinners held by Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs are the stuff of legends, with almost every fan in the NBA knowing about them. But according to former Spurs legend Manu Ginobili, it appears one dinner was under very unique circumstances.
In a recent piece done by ESPN to celebrate Popovich breaking the NBA’s all-time win record, players were asked to share their favorite stories of Coach Pop. Manu Ginobili revealed that Popovich took the Spurs for dinner after Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals, after Ray Allen and the Miami Heat stole the game in overtime, thus denying San Antonio the championship.
“It was a restaurant by the hotel called Il Gabbiano. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t forget it… It was almost the championship won. [But Pop’s] phrase was, ‘Win it together. Lose it together. Man’s got to eat’… So we ate together. We talked and we basically cried together. He went one table at a time with different players and had conversations and tried to cheer us up when we were devastated… One of his phrases that we’ve heard many times is, ‘If this is the worst thing that happened to you in your life, you got a very lucky, blessed and fortunate life. “He demands the most out of you. The thing that makes him great was the day after, or once it happened, a couple hours later, the following day or even on Christmas Day [at his house], you think that he was pissed, upset, disappointed at you. And then all of a sudden you are drinking wine and talking. Like [whatever happened in the game] didn’t happen.”
Ginobili and Popovich always had a pretty great relationship. During the best years of the Spurs, Pop had asked Ginobili to come off the bench while he was an All-Star. Ginobili accepting the role meant a lot to Pop, as he always spoke about of selfless Manu was.
Popovich was blessed to have the big three of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili playing for him. But there is no denying that’ll three players were equally blessed to have him as their head coach for most, if not, their entire careers.
