Gregg Popovich was being, well, Gregg Popovich when the San Antonio Spurs coach was holding court like only he can heading into Tuesday night's game against the Toronto Raptors.
First it started with a gentle reprimand to a local media sort who started off a question about Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio's leading light at forward, by stating that everybody always regarded him as a good defensive player.
"Everybody?" pounced Popovich. "You too?
"You didn't know who the hell he was," he continued, revelling in the ribbing before turning his steely gaze to the rest of the media horde to pronounce: "He had no idea who Kawhi Leonard was."
Later, when asked to comment on the continued progress of the Raptors from year to year under head coach Dwane Casey, Popovich was dismissive, saying he has too much on his plate just worrying about his own squad.
"How the hell do you have time to worry about Toronto and Milwaukee and Houston and Orlando and everybody else?" he said. "Do your own thing."
In that regard, Popovich has held fast, never letting the court of public opinion dictate the way he lives his life – whether it is his iron-fisted approach to running a basketball team or his scathing commentary denouncing Donald Trump, the new U.S. President he labelled a bully over the weekend.
"He speaks out," said Casey, a long-time admirer of his coaching compatriot, who turns 68 on Saturday. "I love what he's doing – the social issues in the States. That's very important, what he's saying.
"He's got a platform, he's the guy. They're not going to listen to Dwane Casey. But they will listen to Gregg Popovich. So what he says on the social issues in the U.S. is right on time, on target."
Popovich's Spurs were also on the mark, as usual, against the Raptors on Tuesday, gutting out a 108-106 victory at Air Canada Centre to improve their record to 36-9 on the season.
The loss for the Raptors (28-17), playing without the services of injured leading scorer DeMar DeRozan, was their fourth in a row, a slide they have not endured since March, 2015.
Popovich has little left to prove in the basketball world, with five NBA titles to his credit over the 21 years he has directed the Spurs.
Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots, who will be looking for his fifth NFL championship ring in the Super Bowl on Feb. 5, is regarded by many as the most cerebral coach in professional sports.
But Popovich, on pace for a 16th consecutive season of winning at least 60 per cent of his games, has to be included in the discussion.
"Pop is the best in sports," Casey said. "I know coach Belichick has a reputation of being the best coach, but I've looked up to coach Pop for a long time."
Casey described Popovich as being "the head of the snake" for the way he runs the operation in San Antonio.
"He does it some with humour, some with the hammer," Casey said. "But the players understand and know what they're supposed to do. They know their jobs, they know their roles. And that's what we're all trying to build in our programs. That's what we're trying to build here with the Raptors."
Popovich tried his best to deflect the praise.
"Coach Casey, he's hyperbolic," Popovich said. "He's trying to set us up.
"That's very flattering, but obviously untrue. But I've been around a long time and I've won some games. And if you forgot, I got to coach Tim Duncan. That made me look pretty good."
Once again, the Spurs are among the NBA's elite and are headed toward another 60-win season, which would be the sixth for Popovich as coach.
While he is quick to remark he has little time to take notice of what others around the league are doing, he will admit to peeking from time to time at how the Golden State Warriors are doing.
"I watch a game once in a while because Golden State's really fun to watch – you've got to admit that," he said. "They're in a different league than the rest of us."
While many bemoaned the fact that the rich only got richer when the already powerful Warriors added star free agent Kevin Durant to their lineup for the 2016-17 campaign, it only figured that Popovich had an alternative view.
"What team wouldn't try to put together as good a group as they can?" he said. "They did a good job, they figured it out, they get credit for it.
"It's got nothing to do with, 'Oh, that's unfair.' Life's unfair. Get over it. Go play them. If you want to beat them, do your best to beat them. Either you do or you don't. No reason to denigrate them in any way, shape or form. They're beautiful."