When Popovich heard that Wang Yi and the Kings hadn't checked into the hotel he'd arranged for them, he wasn't the least bit annoyed. He just shook his head slightly.
"That little sly fox really is crafty."
But then he smiled at the assistant coach beside him. "It's fine if he doesn't stay at the hotel we arranged, but surely he can't do without our locker room?"
Gian, the assistant coach beside him, smiled knowingly.
The Spurs' locker rooms during the Playoffs had a notorious reputation.
If the NBA ever held a vote for the most hated locker room, the Spurs would unquestionably take the top spot.
This year, Wang Yi and the Kings had pulled all sorts of tricks in the Golden 1 Center locker room, leaving Popovich furious. So he'd decided to give the Kings and Wang Yi a proper welcome this time.
After Game 1, he'd called someone and had the visiting team's locker room on the Spurs' side rearranged.
He'd made it even smaller and more cramped.
Before, at least every locker had a chair in front of it. Now there wasn't even room for a chair. If a dozen or more people tried to change at once, they'd have to do it standing up.
And even if you said you didn't need a chair and could change sitting on the floor, that wouldn't work either. There simply wasn't enough space.
Then there was the shower water: the hot water was too hot, and the cold water was too cold.
There were cockroaches and rats in the locker room.
Those were standard measures.
On top of that, Popovich had come up with another brilliant trick.
He'd even caught a whole lot of lice. After starving them for several days, he'd released them into the Kings' lockers