Gregg Popovich, an NBA legend: Stories you've never heard about the San Antonio Spurs, Team USA coach

For nearly two decades, Manu Ginobili has had hundreds of dinners and countless talks with San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, discussing everything from «politics, war, the game or kids.»

Popovich even showed up at Ginobili's door at 1 in the morning with wine to cheer him up after a tough game.

But one dinner above all the «famous dinners» with Pop will forever stand out.

«It was a restaurant by the hotel called Il Gabbiano,» the longtime Spurs guard told ESPN. «Even if I wanted to, I couldn't forget it.»

At a Miami restaurant named seagull in Italian, stunned players were sobbing and looking at one another in disbelief as Pop consoled each Spur.

Earlier that evening, on June 18, 2013, the Spurs were seconds away from celebrating another championship when Ray Allen hit one of the most iconic shots in NBA Finals history.

It was as crushing a blow to the Spurs as any during the Popovich era, as the Miami Heat won Game 6 in overtime before taking Game 7 and the NBA Finals. Still, Pop stuck to his routine and gathered his team.

«It was almost the championship won,» said Ginobili, the pain still audible in his voice nearly a decade later. "[But Pop's] phrase was, 'Win it together. Lose it together. Man's got to eat.'

«So we ate together.»

Not even the finest Italian dishes and wine on the Miami waterfront could cleanse the bitter taste of Allen's shot or, for Ginobili, the offensive rebound Chris Bosh snatched over him before finding Allen in the corner for the 3.

On June 18, 2013, Ray Allen knocks down a corner 3-pointer to send the Heat to overtime against the Spurs in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. In OT, Chris Bosh blocks Danny Green's last-second attempt to send the series to a seventh game.

A championship slipped away