SAN ANTONIO — If you took a right out of Gregg Popovich's office in the practice facility last season, and you walked past the offices of the assistant coaches, you couldn't miss it.

Straight ahead, prominently displayed on a wall, was a framed picture of the Game 6 scoreboard.

Popovich couldn't walk in that direction without seeing the image. Neither could any player who left his office. Popovich wanted his guys to be as bothered as he was, but he also wanted to remind them of the circumstance that night in Miami.

The picture didn't display the final score. It didn't freeze time at 28.2 seconds. It showed a moment late in the third quarter — when the Spurs led by 13 points.

This was what Popovich wanted the Spurs to remember. They didn't lose in 2013 because of a missed free throw, or because of a Ray Allen 3-pointer. They lost because of a series of fixable missteps.

Last month they took down the picture. And now, after wowing the world and themselves, what will Popovich want to frame this time around?

“I've been thinking about that,” Popovich said.

The staff comes together this weekend, as is customary, to officially begin the season. The coaches aren't heading to another city to hunker down, as they have in the past, because so much travel already awaits them.

Why spend more time away from family when they can bond in Berlin?

So they will go over everything, preparing for what they want to do when training camp begins next week, and this season they face a challenge. It isn't easy improving on perfection.

The Spurs didn't just win another title in June. They put on a display of basketball art.

Popovich, naturally, has a few explanations. The Portland series, he says, got them believing anything was possible. The Spurs needed that belief for Oklahoma City.

And after the Spurs lost Game 2 to the Heat? They reacted as they hadn't before.

“There was a different mantra,” Popovich said. “Boarding the plane, before practices, during shootaround, we said, 'We came here to win two.' We totally believed at that point. We thought we were better.”

Looking back, Popovich thinks others added to that. Namely, the Heat.

“When they won Game 2,” he said, “they probably didn't handle that win real well. They were probably thinking that we got lucky in Game 1, with the air conditioning issue, and they thought they were just going to do it again. As two-time defending champs, it was natural. This had become their place in the world.”

Combine the two attitudes, and the result was a stunning, overwhelming exhibition of basketball excellence. Even now, when Popovich watches the last three games of the Finals, he comes away amazed.

“I'm thinking, 'Who are these guys?'” he joked about his players. “'Did they all have lobotomies?'”

Popovich, in his own way, is always trying to surgically tweak brains. It's not manipulation as much as it is a search for the clearest, most honest message. He doesn't want to do what the Heat did, which is not handle success well.

A year ago, even as he said he was tormented by Game 6, Popovich secretly loved that the disappointment could be used as fuel. So facing the opposite problem now, is he concerned?

“I'm worried for one reason,” he said. “They are human beings. They are going to feel satisfied.”

Otherwise, he will treat his human beings as he always has. Popovich says they will go back to basics, and he will start with the Finals game no one in San Antonio talks about.

Game 2. “There's a reason we lost. We took more contested shots than they did.”

He'll use the preseason trip to Germany and Turkey to reunite the group. He will break down every loss. And when he sees his guys leaning on last year, savoring what they were instead of what they can be again, Popovich already knows what he will say.

“OK, now we're the Celtics of the '80s? We're as good as Bird and McHale?”

He paused, laughing before he finished his imaginary dialogue.

“Let me give you a clue. Noooo!”

He will say more. One on his staff joked Wednesday that there's always more. But starting next week, when the Spurs try to recover from greatness, Popovich already knows what he needs to do.

He needs to paint an entirely different picture.

bharvey@express-news.net

Twitter: Buck_SA