Welcome to the Basketball Hangover. I write about what’s happening in the NBA daily, even when COVID has ravaged the league.
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has won a lot of games in his NBA coaching career.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Darren Abate/AP.)
San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich reached a milestone only two other men have ever done in the NBA. Pop won his 1,300th game as a coach after the Spurs defeated the Bulls. It speaks to the longevity and wisdom of Pop, who has coached the Spurs since 1996.
His coaching career got off to a disastrous start as he took over an injury-riddled Spurs team but the lottery balls bounced their way and San Antonio was able to get the first pick of the 1997 NBA Draft. They used that selection to pick up Tim Duncan and, as everyone says, the rest is history.
But the thing is, you can have one star or even three, and people will tell you it’s difficult to win consistently in the league. We’ve seen some very good teams on paper not make the postseason. The Spurs, however, enjoyed remarkable health from their stars and kept up with the times. Sometimes, they’re even ahead of the curve. The early 2000s saw the Spurs pound everyone on defense while Duncan methodically wore everyone out in the post. Then as time switched decades, we saw a faster-paced San Antonio team and an offense predicated on ball movement that had everybody touching the ball. And even though Popovich was very public about not loving the three-pointer, he begrudgingly accepted that it had become part of the game. The Spurs led in three-point accuracy in 2014 and that was the year they won their last championship.
Pop would always cede credit to Duncan for the consistent winning and those championship. Rightfully so! But Pop also deserves credit for reigning in all his stars. He found out early that giving his players too much PT would tire out his stars at the end; now every team has started limiting minutes to their players. It was why Duncan, who played all four years of eligibility in college (which is very rare today and had even become that in 1997), was able to get in 19 seasons in the league.
And Pop has won many games because he gets so much out of his players and has evolved with the times. The Spurs made the postseason 22 straight years after Pop’s not so great 1996-97 campaign when he took over. San Antonio finally missed the playoffs last season and it was also Pop’s full first sub-.500 season in his illustrious NBA coaching career. Right now, the Spurs probably don’t have any business being 23-20. But that’s what Pop does; he gets his young guys playing defense (10th in defensive rating this season) and he always has his roster ready to go.
Pop only trails Don Nelson (1,335 career wins) and Lenny Wilkens (1,332). Pop should break that record by next season. Many already consider him to be the greatest NBA coach ever. At the very least, once he breaks that record, numbers can help strengthen his case.
Bullet Passes
The Knicks got a big win over the Bucks. The Bucks also sat out everyone as they’re mostly dinged up.
After scoring 39 pointsagainst Denver on Friday, Zion Williamson put in 38 in a win against Dallas. Zion is actually averaging a cool 26.3 PPG, which is now good for 8th.
A little quiet around there as the Lakers have been talked about how far they might fall but the Jazz and the Clippers have extended their winning streaks to 5 each.
After it had been said that Kevin Porter, Jr. might have to stay away from the basketball court before getting traded to Houston, he has been on a bit of a roll since getting called back up. Porter is averaging a nice 16.1 points and 5.9 dimes in 8 games. He scored 25 in a huge win over Minnesota.
Al Horford is sitting out the rest of the season as the Thunder want to see what they have with their young guys. I think they’ve conceded the season as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is hurt.
What did they see on Saturday? Second-year player Moses Brown went for 21 points and 23 boards. Wow.
The Kings have won four in a row. Their latest surge puts them a full game behind #10 Golden State. Check out how it happened below.
NBA Scoreboard
Mar. 27, 2021
Watch This Play
For March Madness, this looks a little bit familiar. There’s the pass to Harrison Barnes… puts it up… YES!!!
(VIDEO CREDIT: Bleacher Report.)
Hell of a pass and a hell of a shot.
Everyone, please take care of yourselves during this pandemic. And that goes for everyone involved with the NBA as well.
You can find Rey-Rey on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
You can also check out Rey-Rey’s podcast, Rey-Rey Is Fundamental, for more basketball content and, really, whatever else.
R.I.P. Nala.