The 20 different emotions of Gregg Popovich

8. Hopeless

Like rubber cement clinging to the poster of the rabbit from Donnie Darko during the dry winter months in western Wisconsin.

In Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals, Tony Parker Tony Parkered the Spurs to a five-point lead with less than 30 seconds to go. As staff began wheeling out ropes for the championship celebration, Gregg Popovich was forlorn. The Spurs had about a 99.9 percent chance of winning, but Gregg Popovich was the only person in the building who knew that that day was opposite day.

It’s a terrible burden to be blessed with this kind of knowledge. Pop did his best to tilt the odds in Miami’s favor. He subbed in Diaw for Duncan on a key defensive possession. He applied lotion to Kawhi’s hands. He ate a squirrel alive tail-first during a timeout. None of these things were enough though. The Spurs were nearly guaranteed to win. As such, they lost.

Most of us know similar situations, except the opposite. We’ve been down H-O-R-S to H in while playing in the driveway against our little sister. While we can take the honorable way out and smash the basketball with a golf club until it deflates and demand that the game ended in a tie, Pop had no such recourse. He had to watch as his team took a fate-sealing lead.

I don’t know exactly when this picture was taken, but you can see a small glimpse into the eyes of a broken man here. Sure, he’s reassembled himself, but those cracks in his soul will never fully heal.

Anyways, here is Pop…