Famously irritable in sideline interviews, San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich cracked a rare smile on Thursday night when TNT reporter Craig Sager approached him with a microphone in hand.
“I gotta honestly tell you, this is the first time I've enjoyed doing this ridiculous interview we're required to do, and it's because you're here and you're back with us," Popovich said to him. "Welcome back, baby -- now ask me a couple of inane questions."
Sager had just returned from a battle with leukemia, and it was more than fitting that Popovich greeted him with both an open-armed hug and a leveling glare following a couple of the reporter’s questions.
When Sager asked him whether he was “happy” with his team’s shot selection as San Antonio struggled to hit from the field, Popovich was all too glad to revert back to his usual cankerous self, reinitiating Sager back into the NBA fold with a lovingly withering glare.
“Happy? Am I happy?” he asked. “Craig, come on, get back in the swing of things.”
Welcome back, Craig. We’ve missed you.
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