It was already bound to happen given the level of play of the NBA defending champion San Antonio Spurs. It was just a matter of time when and where.
Playing on the road at Indianapolis, the San Antonio Spurs gave head coach Greg Popovich his 1,000th win in the NBA following a come-from-behind victory against the determined Indiana Pacers squad.
The Spurs made a thrilling fourth quarter comeback to defeat the Pacers 95-93 at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The victory secured for Greg Popovich his win No. 1,000 as an NBA head coach. All those wins by Greg Popovich were made with the San Antonio Spurs as he has been the team head coach for the past 19 years, details USA Today.
Indiana could have rained on Popovich’s party if only the team remained consistent with its play from the first quarter up to the middle of the fourth quarter.
Indiana was still ahead by 14 points at the start of the quarter and was still up 89-79 with 6:46 remaining in the game. The Spurs then unleashed a balanced offensive to finally tie the game at 93-93, with less than 20 seconds remaining.
Marco Belinelli then knocked down a baseline jumper to break the tie with 2.1 seconds remaining. George Hill could have won the game for the Pacers but his three-point shot at the buzzer rimmed out, giving the Spurs the victory and the historic moment to Popovich.
What it means to Pop
Popovich said that there is no secret formula in enabling him to reach 1,000 career wins as an NBA head coach. He said that he was just fortunate to have been with the team for a long time and to be blessed with good players.
He said that for a coach, the biggest challenge is getting the right players. He is just fortunate to have had the good ones. Pop also added that time is also an important element. He has been with the team for quite some time so he was able to notch his 1,000th career win.
Spurs point guard Tony Parker said that a thousand wins is a lot of wins in any language and he feels very lucky that he has been part of the team and that he was very happy for his coach too. Parker scored 19 points during the game against the Pacers.
Ninth in the list
Popovich became the ninth coach in NBA history with 1,000 career wins.
The list includes Don Nelson who compiled 1,335 wins for four different NBA teams; Lenny Wilkins who made 1,332 wins for six different NBA ballclubs; Jerry Sloan with 1,221 wins for two different NBA teams; Pat Riley with 1,210 wins for three different NBA squads; Phil Jackson with 1,155 wins for two different NBA teams; George Karl with 1,131 wins for five different NBA teams; Larry Brown with 1,098 wins for one ABA team and nine different NBA teams; and Rick Adelman with 1,042 wins for five different NBA teams.