It’s not often Gregg Popovich gets emotional, same for normally stone-faced Tim Duncan, but the 65-year-old three-time Coach of the Year winner and now five-time NBA champion gave a surprisingly sentimental speech to his troops in the locker room following Game 5’s win.
Usually his words are littered with a biting sarcasm that’s liable to reduce a seasoned beat reporter to hemming and hawing, but after capturing the NBA’s biggest prize, he spoke from his gut.
Starting with owner Peter Holt and then down to everyone in the training room, Popovich thanked the whole organization, then joked, “Kawhi thinks he did it all himself.”
But Pop really brought it all home when he told his players how proud he was of all of them for coming back after last year’s tough loss, finishing his speech with this:
“I’ve never been more proud of a team, more have I ever gotten as much satisfaction from a season in all the years I’ve been coaching. To see the fortitude you guys displayed coming back from that horrific loss last year and getting yourselves back in the position and doing what you did in the Finals. You’re really to be honored for that. I just can’t tell you how much it means…”
Love you Pop.
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