With a 108-101 victory for the San Antonio Spurs over the Charlotte Hornets on Friday night, Gregg Popovich tied Phil Jackson for the sixth most wins by a head coach in NBA history, collecting #1155.
Ahead of Popovich and Jackson are Don Nelson (1,335), Lenny Wilkens (1,332), Jerry Sloan (1,221), Pat Riley (1,219), and George Karl (1,175). Of these coaches, Pop (.694) only trails Jackson (.704) for the highest-winning percentage, and he has the third most playoff wins by any head coach.
Popovich had chances to match Jackson's mark earlier this week when San Antonio took on Kyrie Irving and the Boston Celtics as well as the Golden State Warriors, but the Spurs fell in both contests.
Prior to Friday night's 7-point win over Charlotte, Popovich referred to his team as mediocre. Per Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News:
“We are an average team, so that means everything we do is a little good, a little bad,” he said.
…
“It’s a pretty simple game,” he said. “It’s always about who executes the best for 48 minutes. Talent has something to do with that, but at the same time, certain things in the game don’t require talent. They require discipline and habits, communication, those kinds of things.
“We are working on all those things so we can all be on the same page just systemically and strategically.”
San Antonio's bench led them to victory last night, scoring 64 of the team's 108 points. Bryn Forbes led the way with 22 off the pine, while Rudy Gay added an additional 20 in the winning effort.
Popovich has a strong chance to pass Jackson on the all-time wins list when his Spurs host the Phoenix Suns on Sunday.
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