Spurs' Gregg Popovich teases reporter after blowout win: 'You're not worth much'

Author:
Ben Golliver
Publish date:
May 30, 2014

Gregg Popovich was in a good mood after the Spurs' Game 5 rout. (D. Clarke Evans/Getty Images)

SAN ANTONIO -- The Spurs' 117-89 victory over the Thunder in Game 5 marked the fifth straight time that home team has won handily in the Western Conference finals. Garbage time has been a given, the only question has been how early it starts.

Tim Duncan said that the back-and-forth nature of the games has made this the "craziest series I've ever been involved in," and so the question was posed to Gregg Popovich afterwards: Why are the West's top two teams taking turns destroying each other and getting destroyed?

Fresh off a 28-point victory that put San Antonio up 3-2 in the series, Popovich chose to engage in an exchange of good-natured, lighthearted banter during his postgame press conference.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaisJ3NJXpY?rel=0&w=600&h=338]

Reporter: Five games, five blowouts. To us who don't really know the game, how do you explain that?
Popovich: "You're serious? You really think I can explain that?"
Reporter: In simplest terms. I know you can. The question is, will you?
Popovich: "Good Lord. And they pay you, don't they?"
Reporter: Very little.
Popovich: "Thus the question. You're not worth much."

Another reporter doubled back later, and while Popovich still seemed bewildered by the wild swings within the series, he did expound a little bit on what could be causing all the one-sided games.

"I have no clue, honestly," he said. "I think every game it's a different animal. It really is. We talk to our team about that all the time. You have no clue what's going to happen, how a team is going to come out, whether they're going to be lethargic, or hold the ball, don't hold the ball, get 50/50 balls or don't get 50/50 balls.

"The game is played once it begins and adjustments start. Both sides are going to make adjustments, whether it's substitutions or changing pick-and-roll defenses or who you want to go to, how many minutes so-and-so should play. All that happens when the game starts. There are plays, there are calls, there are runs that happen that make momentum stop or get extended. And then a lot of it has got to do with players making shots on a certain night, and it can go in either direction."

Catching himself after such a long-winded answer, Popovich concluded that it was time for another punchline.

"Obviously it seems like the homecourt motivates both teams pretty well," he said. "That's one thing I guess you could say. They both look like they feel pretty comfortable playing at home. So that's why we've opted not to go to OKC [for Game 6]."

The Thunder -- who won Games 3 and 4 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena by an average of 11 points -- will host Game 6 on Saturday.

Video via YouTube user cjzerovids