Date: May 25, 2026

By: Mr. Fat Hat

The 2026 NBA Western Conference Playoff Finals between San Antonio and Oklahoma City.

Location: San Antonio , Texas, USA

After the lose of the Spurs to the Thunder in game three of the NBA playoffs, the fandom and the entire city of San Antonio sensed a pressure for a need to win game four.  Some said the pressure was palpable throughout the city.   But this pressure wasn’t the heaviest most influential emotion surrounding the team between games three and four.  It was the post game return of ‘Pop‘ (a.k.a. El Jefe,) into the Spurs locker room.

Since Coach Greg Popovich’s recovery from a severe stroke in November 2024, the San Antonio Spurs five time NBA Championship winning coach, ‘Pop’,  has made his way back to verbally advising the team.  On a few occasions, Popovich has made his way, slowly walking unassisted with a few former players escorting from behind,  into the Spurs practice facility.  He often sits watching on the sideline and has a few short one-on-one conversations individually with players and coaches.  He doesn’t instruct as a floor coach nor interrupt the activities.  Those days of physical activities are over.  Despite Coach Popovich’s physically limitations, his mental capacities remain intact.  He may have lost his speedy step, but he didn’t lose decades of knowledge about how to play NBA championship basketball.

After the dismal disappointing game three playoff loss of the Spurs, for the first time ‘Pop’ walked into the locker room.  The locker room doors were sealed, the room was filled with only members of the Spurs organization,   And then, as he has been well known to do, ‘Pop’ cut loose – I mean  footloose –  with his honest and verbally brutal assessment of the players effort and performance in game three. 

During Coach Popovich’s long and successful career, similar such verbal escapades occurred.  Coach has a famous successful reputation  for  confronting players verbally and mentally,  pushing players with what he says, sometimes to the point when these gifted well paid millionaire basketball players literally would stand right up with their backs against the wall and argue with coach Pop.  Just ask Hall of Fame and NBA Championship player, Manu Ginobili, about the pressure ‘Pop’ can express and apply in a closed post game locker room after a bad loss. Coach Pop has himself stated in hindsight, that he was ‘very very hard‘ on Tony Parker.

Coach Popovich is often in the modern ‘softer’ less physically era of  the NBA basketball league  called ‘Ole School’.  Well, Coach Pop was always and remains ‘Ole School’.  His age never determined his school of thought, correctness and perfection was the objective and motivation.  The 2026 Spurs team got an ‘Ole School’ forthright direct honest truthful verbal lecture direct from ‘El Jefe’!  The room listened in silence, but the pressure of truth was made apparent to all those present. Game four results would indicate that the message resulted in a change in behavior and performance. 

Prior to game four, it was NOT the pressure from the Spur fans and the media hype outside of the locker room which was most felt by the team and organization, it was the critical but factual words of Coach Popovich which struck deepest. 

The message to the team from Coach Pop, drilled into him from his days long ago at the Air Force Academy, you might lose a basketball game, you might lose something important in life, but you do NOT suffer that loss without being absolutely 100% certain you ‘GAVE EVERYTHING YOU CAN POSSIBLE GIVE’ to avoid loosing.  If you do this, in that case and situation, the results will eventually become acceptable.

Sounds like an appropriate verbal message coming from an Air Force Cadet on Memorial day weekend, doesn’t it. 

Top secret military  information:  Coach Greg Popovich, is also known as ‘The General’ .

 Yes.  (a.k.a.) Pop, (a.k.a.) El Chefe, (a.k.a.) Coach Pop, is also (a.k.a.) ‘The  General of NBA Championship Basketball, (a.k.a.) General Hoops Popovich’