Gregg Popovich plays stifling defense on Kobe Bryant (Video)

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich showed off his defensive prowess in a one-on-one battle with Kobe Bryant.

They say you are what you preach, and that clearly applies to San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich. Popovich’s Spurs teams have always had great ball movement on offense and more importantly, tremendous team defense.

A philosophy is only great if you follow it yourself and Popovich showed off his defensive prowess during All-Star practice with the Western Conference. With Popovich set to coach the All-Stars on Sunday, he got in a little defensive work of his own in during practice.

Popovich decided to go up against Kobe Bryant and stifled the veteran guard on defense. Kobe was trying to brush Popovich off with the left hand as he went up for the layup, but the Spurs’ coach wasn’t having any of it and draped himself all over Bryant.

It might just be an All-Star practice, but there’s absolutely no free baskets from Popovich. The guy is the one coach in the league insane enough to line up across an All-Star and make sure he does whatever it takes to stop him from scoring a practice layup, even if that means getting heavy on contact.

Kobe was clearly having fun with his All-Star coach, but it’s an awesome moment between one of the greatest players ever and one of the greatest coaches ever. Even Popovich likes to have some fun on occasion.