Doris Burke has plenty of broadcast memories, but one old sideline interview with Gregg Popovich still stands out for all the wrong reasons.
During Wednesday night’s telecast of the Los Angeles Lakers’ 127-105 win over the Golden State Warriors, the ESPN analyst revisited an early exchange with the longtime San Antonio Spurs coach that left her wishing she could take the question back. The moment came in one of her first quarter-ending interviews, when Shaquille O’Neal had already started carving up San Antonio after a shaky opening stretch.
“My first interview when we put interviews in to end a quarter, it's San Antonio and Shaq had a bad quarter. But then he comes out against San Antonio and he's like 6-for-6. And I say remarkably, unintelligently, I think my question was something like Pop, what was the problem with your defense?”
Burke said Popovich’s reaction told her instantly she had wandered into dangerous territory.
“And I kid you not Pop just stared at me his face got very red. I don't remember what he said.
I remember getting back to my position and the producer saying Doris, do you mind if we don't run that? And I said, thank you for not embarrassing me.”
It fit the image Popovich built over decades on the sideline, where he was known for sharp, no-nonsense answers in interviews. He coached the Spurs for 29 seasons, won five NBA championships and became one of the most accomplished coaches the league has seen.
The O’Neal-Popovich battles were a big part of that era, especially during the Lakers’ championship runs in the early 2000s, when the rivalry helped shape the Western Conference landscape.
San Antonio is now in a new chapter under coach Mitch Johnson after Popovich stepped away from the bench. The Spurs opened the 2026-27 regular season with a 116-104 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night.
They’ll look for their first win of the season on Friday when they host the Houston Rockets, who are 1-0, at 9:30 p.m. ET on Prime Video.
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For San Antonio, the annoyance is less about one isolated sequence than the pattern itself. Fans have seen these debates before, and the concern is not just about a missed call here or there, but about how consistently the rules are enforced when the game gets tight and the physicality rises. Until the league gives supporters a clearer sense of where the line is, every questionable whistle will keep landing with the same old mix of disbelief and exasperation. [Read more 🡒]
Victor Wembanyama Just Got A Brutal Reality Check From An NBA Legend
Victor Wembanyamas first game of the season gave the Spurs plenty to like on the defensive end, with the young star still impacting possessions through rebounds and blocks even as his shot deserted him. It was enough to keep the opener from turning into a total concern in San Antonio, but not enough to quiet the conversation around how much his offseason work has actually sharpened the rest of his game.
Carmelo Anthony helped push that skepticism into the spotlight, questioning whether the training Wembanyama did in the offseason will show up consistently when the games start counting. Wembanyama had worked with Hakeem Olajuwon and even added rugby drills to his regimen, but Anthony made clear he wants to see whether those efforts translate over the course of the season, which is the real test the Spurs are now facing. [Read more 🡒]