Gregg Popovich Wins 1,000th Game with Milestones Ahead & Other Monday Takeaways
If you expected Gregg Popovich to get emotional about his 1,000th NBA win, you probably didn't see him react to the first 999.
Thanks to a game-winning jumper from Marco Belinelli, the San Antonio Spurs edged past the Indiana Pacers by a final score of 95-93 on Monday, giving Pop win No. 1,000.
After officially becoming just the ninth NBA coach to amass a four-digit win total, Popovich laid out his recipe for success in vintage matter-of-fact, mildly dismissive fashion, via J.R. Wilco of Pounding the Rock:
Without question, the best of those "good players" has been Tim Duncan. He's been around for a staggering number of Popovich's 1,000 wins, per NBA on ESPN:
If the Spurs coach won't bask in the moment, we'll have to do it for him. And the best way to celebrate a legitimate milestone like this one is to offer some context. For example, Popovich reached his 1,000th win, which is an achievement in volume, by being remarkably efficient. According to Basketball-Reference, of the nine NBA coaches to have amassed 1,000 victories, only Phil Jackson has a higher winning percentage (.704) than Popovich (.684).
Jerry Sloan is the only other coach to collect at least 1,000 wins with a single franchise.
And per NBA.com, only Jackson and Pat Riley got to the 1,000-win mark faster:
It takes remarkable consistency to do what Popovich has done. Fortunately, that's been one of the calling cards of the Spurs under his leadership. San Antonio has won at least 61 percent of its games in every full season Pop has coached, a streak that dates back to the 1997-98 campaign.
That's the kind of thing that draws praise from friends and foes alike, as LeBron James, the guy Pop bounced from the NBA Finals last season, proved by offering his congratulations:
Looking ahead, Popovich won't be moving up the all-time wins list anytime soon. Rick Adelman is 42 victories ahead of him in the No. 8 spot, which means Pop won't be in position to pass him until sometime next year.
Popovich signed a five-year extension in the summer of 2014, though he told Sam Amick of USA Today last week, "It's a five-year contract, but the chances of staying for five years I don't think are very good."
| Don Nelson | 1,335 | .557 | 0 |
| Lenny Wilkens | 1,332 | .536 | 1 |
| Jerry Sloan | 1,221 | .603 | 0 |
| Pat Riley | 1,210 | .636 | 5 |
| Phil Jackson | 1,155 | .704 | 11 |
| George Karl | 1,131 | .599 | 0 |
| Larry Brown | 1,098 | .548 | 1 |
| Rick Adelman | 1,042 | .582 | 0 |
| Gregg Popovich | 1,000 | .684 | 5 |
If we allot Popovich another 20 wins this year and assume he coaches another three years after this one at a conservative estimate of 50 wins apiece, he could do some real climbing. Another 170 wins would be enough to surpass the totals of Larry Brown, George Karl (though his impending hire by the Sacramento Kings could complicate matters) and Jackson.
Unless Pop is willing to coach at least another five years, he's probably not going to move past Riley into the top four.
Wherever he ends up on the all-time wins list, Popovich's curriculum vitae is arguably second to none. Per CBS Sports:
Congrats, Pop.
Around the Association
Kevin Durant Is a Bad...
Read lips if you want, but make sure there aren't any impressionable youth around.
Kevin Durant blistered the Denver Nuggets for 40 points on just 19 shots, including seven made triples, in a 124-114 win on Monday. He buried a handful of extra-long bombs in a particularly hot third-quarter run, which came after the proclamation of his badness in the second period.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have now won two straight while flashing the familiar offensive firepower they've struggled to find all year. They now sit just a game and a half out of the No. 8 spot in the West, and it's beginning to look like KD won't allow them to remain on the outside of the playoff picture much longer.
As if we needed another reason to watch OKC take on the Memphis Grizzlies in each team's pre-All-Star-break finale on Feb. 11.
K.J. McDaniels Is Creative
In a season going down the tubes by design, there are few qualities more valuable to the Philadelphia 76ers than entertainment. If you're going to be bad, it helps to occasionally look good doing it.
Not a problem for rookie K.J. McDaniels, who turned in this play in the Sixers' 89-84 loss to the Golden State Warriors:
Philly general manager Sam Hinkie, who happened to be joining the broadcast crew for an interview when McDaniels went glass, had this to say, via Philly Fast Break:
Too bad. I think we'd all welcome more players developing that particular kind of skill.
John Wall Missed the Point
Literally.
The Washington Wizards cruised past the Orlando Magic in an ugly 96-80 win (marked by a combined 11-of-47 shooting from three-point range and 31 turnovers), and John Wall fell short of a triple-double by a single point.
He posted nine points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in 33 minutes.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, Wall joined Rajon Rondo as the only players this season to just miss a triple-double after failing to reach double-digit points. Rondo has actually pulled off the feat twice, scoring two points to go along with 19 assists and 12 rebounds against the Atlanta Hawks on Dec. 2 and then putting up another two points to complement his 14 assists and 10 rebounds versus the Brooklyn Nets on Jan. 5, per Basketball-Reference.
This concludes our dive into obscure near-triple-double statistics.
The Heat Got Hot
Despite getting just 19 minutes from a visibly hobbled Hassan Whiteside, the Miami Heat notched their biggest comeback win of the season, erasing a 14-point deficit en route to an eventual 109-95 blowout win over the New York Knicks.
Chris Bosh led Miami with 32 points, compensating for the absence of Dwyane Wade, who missed the contest with a bad hamstring.
Carmelo Anthony's balky knee acted up again, causing him to exit early in the fourth quarter. According to B/R's Ethan Skolnick, 'Melo may be nearing a point of no return:
There's more bad news for the Knicks, who became the first team in the league to reach 42 losses this season. Everybody's known it for months, but now it's official: The Knicks will not be a .500 team in Phil Jackson's first year in charge.
The Heat are just 22-29, which makes it look like a break-even record this year will be tough to come by for them as well. Of course, the win moved Miami into a tie for the No. 7 seed in the reliably weak East. So, there's that.
Bucking Brooklyn
The Milwaukee Bucks did the Heat one better, coming back from 17 down to notch a nifty 103-97 win over the visiting Brooklyn Nets.
Actually, I guess that's technically three better, but you get the idea.
Reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week Giannis Antetokounmpo kept rolling, piling up 12 points, nine rebounds, eight assists, three steals and a block in 32 minutes. He didn't even see the floor in the fourth quarter.
Jared Dudley, whose continuing resurrection makes the wing-starved Los Angeles Clippers look worse by the day for trading him, led Milwaukee with 19 points.
The Bucks did most of their damage in a brutally efficient third quarter, outscoring the Nets 32-16.
At 29-23, Milwaukee needs just one more win to double its season total from a year ago. With the distraction-riddled Kings on the schedule Wednesday, it's a pretty safe bet we'll see the Bucks snatch win No. 30 in short order.
The Hawks Bounced Back
Twenty-four hours after dropping a 94-88 decision to the Memphis Grizzlies, the East-leading Atlanta Hawks added another credential to their contenders' resume: resiliency.
Atlanta got a season-high 28 points from Al Horford and a career-best 26 from DeMarre Carroll in a 117-105 win against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The turnabout was especially encouraging to see from Horford, who managed just six points on 2-of-11 shooting in the loss to Memphis.
As you can see, he didn't let a rough game keep him down:
The young Wolves get credit for hanging around, producing some highlights and making things interesting for as long as anyone could have expected against a superior opponent. And it's encouraging that Shabazz Muhammad (18 points in 24 minutes off the bench) finally made his way back into the rotation after missing a full month with an oblique injury.
There were real positives for Minnesota.
In the end, though, John Krawczynski of The Associated Press summed up the proceedings best:
Atlanta will close out its road trip and pre-break slate with a visit to the Boston Celtics on Wednesday.
It Was a Good Night for Gordons
The Utah Jazz secured a 100-96 win against the host New Orleans Pelicans, who went to battle without Anthony Davis on Monday. The Brow's sprained right shoulder, sustained in a nasty fall on Feb. 7 against the Chicago Bulls, kept him out of action.
But according to reports, via Ben Golliver of Sports Illustrated, we'll still see AD in the All-Star Game.
Anyway, about those Gordons.
Gordon Hayward led the Jazz with 32 points, chipping in eight assists and seven boards for good measure. On the Pelicans' side, Eric Gordon led his team with 31 on a tidy 9-of-14 shooting night from the field. His red-hot marksmanship from long range continued; seven of his eight triple tries fell, and he's now shooting a fantastic 45.1 percent from three on the year.
It's been a rough go for Gordon in New Orleans, but if he can keep striping treys (he's hit 65.2 percent from deep in February), he could be a key to helping the Pelicans survive injuries to Jrue Holiday and Davis.
It Was a Bad Night for Health
Davis incurred his shoulder injury over the weekend, and Blake Griffin, another All-Star, underwent surgery to address a staph infection in his shooting elbow on Monday. We've already hit on 'Melo's maladies, and we can add Draymond Green (sprained right ankle), Tyson Chandler (sprained left ankle) and Monta Ellis (left hip) to the list of casualties.
All three left their respective games with injuries on Monday.
The All-Star break appears to be coming at a good time. Here's hoping a little rest will serve the league's walking wounded well.
DeAndre Jordan Boards, Is Bored
With 27 rebounds in a 115-98 win over the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan set a new career high and NBA season high on Monday.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, Jordan's huge effort (he also had 22 points and three blocks) was yet another sign that he's taken his game to another level in this, his seventh season:
Afterward, Jordan continued looking for ways to entertain himself in postgame interviews, via Andrew Han of ClipperBlog.com:
We got a serenade on Jan. 26:
And distraction a week before that:
Hey, if Jordan's going to grab 27 boards in a game that ends a four-game losing streak for a reeling Clippers squad, he can do whatever he wants.
