With Gregg Popovich, the pregame press conference is an adventure.

Questions can be met with withering scorn and abrupt answers, so questioners take their chances.

Before Saturday’s Game Three of the Western Conference Finals, the Spurs’ coach was in mixed form.

Asked to talk about his rookie forward Jonathon Simmons, Popovich said, “He’s done a good job all year.”

How insightful.

When a questioner said most teams let injured players decide if they’re ready to play, Popovich snapped, “I don’t know what most teams do, in making those sorts of decisions. I’m surprised that you have that inside information, that you know how it goes. . .”

Long silence, then, Popovich said to the next man up: “It’s really a dead group. Geez. Liven it up for ‘em, would you? Give me a good one. Geez, bunch of dead-heads. (Pause.) Respectfully.”

The question: Is Popovich still steaming mad over the injury to Kawhi Leonard, caused by Zaza Pachulia’s risky (in Popovich’s view) defensive play? Or is it something he put behind him?

“Well, I mean, it’s still there,” Popovich said. “You don’t forget things. I mean, I still feel the Miami loss in 2013. You remember things like that. But if you have half a brain and want to live a decent life, you let it go. You’ve gotta move on. Like we tell the players, you’ve gotta go to the next play all the time. You turn it over, you do this, you do that, you gotta move on. So sure, I remember what happened in Game One, but it can’t be your focus going into any other game, or it will diminish your ability to compete.”

Scott Ostler is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: sostler@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @scottostler