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San Antonio Spurs

Popovich Retires as “Coach Pop”

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SAN ANTONIO – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Gregg Popovich is stepping away as head coach of the San Antonio Spurs and will become the team’s president of basketball operations, the Spurs announced.

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Popovich, 76, took over as the head coach in San Antonio 18 games into the 1996-97 season as led the Spurs to five NBA championships in 29 seasons. With 1,422 regular-season wins, he is the winningest coach in NBA history.

He missed most of the 2024-25 campaign, however, after suffering a mild stroke on Nov. 2. Interim coach Mitch Johnson was in charge the rest of the season and posted a 31-45 record with the young Spurs.

“While my love and passion for the game remain, I’ve decided it’s time to step away as head coach,” Popovich said in a statement Friday. “I’m forever grateful to the wonderful players, coaches, staff and fans who allowed me to serve them as the Spurs head coach and am excited for the opportunity to continue to support the organization, community and city that are so meaningful to me.”

The team has yet to announce who will serve as head coach in the 2025-26 season but ESPN reported that Johnson will get the job on a permanent basis.

The Spurs finished the 2024-25 campaign at 34-38 but have two of the brightest young stars in the game — Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle, the last two winners of the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award.

The Spurs made the NBA playoffs for 22 consecutive seasons under Popovich but have not qualified in the past six. San Antonio won at least 50 games in 18 consecutive seasons.

The Spurs put out a tribute video Friday that featured him along with some of the greatest moments and greatest players of his era, writing, “Thank you, Coach Pop, for your brilliance on and off the court. We look forward to our next chapter together.”

Erik Spoelstra, who has guided the Miami Heat since the 2008-09 season, becomes the longest-tenured coach in the NBA.

Popovich began his NBA career in 1988 as an assistant to Spurs coach Larry Brown. In 1992, he moved to a similar role with the Golden State Warriors and returned to San Antonio after two seasons, first in a front office role before becoming head coach. In all, 35 of his 37 NBA seasons have been with the Spurs.

With the Spurs, he has a career record of 1,422-869 in the regular season (.621) and a postseason record of 170-114 (.599).

He has won three NBA Coach of the Year awards, tying Don Nelson and Pat Riley for the most all-time honors. He led the Spurs to titles in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2014.

Popovich also led the 2020 U.S. Olympic team to a gold medal in Tokyo. He was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2023.

–Field Level Media

Long-range Game Sinks Spurs

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Jayson Tatum tossed in a team-high 24 points and the short-handed Boston Celtics made 18 of their 38 3-point attempts en route to a 117-98 victory over the visiting San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night.

Jrue Holiday finished with 22 points and Jaylen Brown added 21 points, seven rebounds and five assists for Boston. Holiday made six of his seven shots from beyond the 3-point arc.

The Celtics played without starting center Kristaps Porzingis (right knee inflammation) and starting point guard Derrick White (left ankle sprain).

The victory improved Boston’s home record to 20-0. The Celtics are the only NBA team that hasn’t lost on its home court this season.

Victor Wembanyama led the Spurs with 27 points and five rebounds in 27 minutes. He shot 10 of 19 from the field and made 2 of 6 3-point attempts.

Wembanyama entered the game leading all NBA rookies in scoring (19.6 ppg), rebounding (10.3), blocks (league-best 3.2) and steals (1.14).

 

 

Devin Vassell scored 21 points for San Antonio, which received nine points and 10 assists from Tre Jones. The Spurs never led after the first quarter.

San Antonio shot 41.9 percent from the field (39 of 93) and 20.6 percent from 3-point territory (7 of 34).

The Celtics, who received 12 points off the bench from Payton Pritchard, outrebounded the Spurs 54-41. Boston hit 46.7 percent of its field-goal attempts (42 of 90).

The Celtics led 30-25 after one quarter and outscored the Spurs 40-20 in the second to take a 25-point halftime lead. Boston shot 60 percent from the field in the first half, when it made 13 of its 19 3-point attempts. The Celtics ended the half on a 12-2 run.

 

 

NOTES: Boston had a 30-point lead early in the third, but San Antonio shaved 14 points off of its deficit and trailed 94-78 entering the fourth. The Spurs failed to pull closer than 16 points in the final 12 minutes.

It was the second game between the teams this season. Boston won the first meeting 134-101 at San Antonio on Dec. 31.

–Field Level Media

Celtics Crush Spurs, Wembanyama

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SAN ANTONIO – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Jayson Tatum poured in 25 points and Jaylen Brown added 24 as the visiting Boston Celtics put away the game in the third quarter of a 134-101 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday.

The Celtics, the No. 1 team in the NBA, won their season-high-tying sixth straight game, while San Antonio, at the bottom of the Western Conference standings, dropped its second consecutive contest.

Boston led by 12 at halftime but pulled away with a dominating third quarter in which it outscored the Spurs 40-23. Brown had 16 of Boston’s points in the period while Tatum added 10, including seven in the final 2:05 of the quarter, after which the Celtics were up 105-76.

Boston cruised in the final period, stretching its lead to as many as 37 as both teams mainly rested their starters.

Derrick White scored 17 points for the Celtics, with Kristaps Porzingis hitting for 14, Luke Kornet producing 12 and Sam Hauser tallying 11.

Devin Vassell led the Spurs with 22 points. Victor Wembanyama added 21 and Malaki Branham had 11. San Antonio played without Keldon Johnson (back spasms) and Zach Collins (sprained right ankle).

Brown’s driving layup with 5:33 to play in the first quarter granted the Celtics a 21-12 lead. Boston was up by as many as 11 in the frame before a 3-pointer by Sandro Mamukelashvili at the 1:32 mark pulled the Spurs within 30-22 after 12 minutes of play.

San Antonio closed the gap to 42-35 just over 3 1/2 minutes into the second quarter on Wembanyama’s pullup jumper. Branham’s three-point play with 5:33 remaining in the quarter got the Spurs to within four before Boston scored the next seven points to move the margin back to double digits at 55-44.

The Celtics pushed their lead to 15 points on White’s 3-pointer with 27.3 seconds remaining and owned a 65-53 advantage at the break.

Tatum led the Celtics with 15 points before halftime while White had 13. Wembanyama paced the Spurs with 15 points and Vassell added 11 in the first half.

–Field Level Media

Spurs Win NBA Lottery; Rights to Wembanyama

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CHICAGO – (Staff Report from Official News Release) –  The San Antonio Spurs won NBA Draft Lottery 2023 presented by State Farm, which was conducted at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago. The Spurs will have the first overall pick in NBA Draft 2023,

which will be held on Thursday, June 22.

Below are the results from NBA Draft Lottery 2023:
1. San Antonio
2. Charlotte
3. Portland
4. Houston
5. Detroit
6. Orlando
7. Indiana
8. Washington
9. Utah
10. Dallas
11. Orlando (from Chicago)
12. Oklahoma City
13. Toronto
14. New Orleans

Below is the order for the remainder of the first round of NBA Draft 2023 presented by State Farm:

15. Atlanta
16. Utah (from Minnesota)
17. Los Angeles Lakers
18. Miami
19. Golden State
20. Houston (from LA Clippers)
21. Brooklyn (from Phoenix)
22. Brooklyn
23. Portland (from New York)
24. Sacramento
25. Memphis
26. Indiana (from Cleveland)
27. Charlotte (from Denver via New York and Oklahoma City)
28. Utah (from Philadelphia via Brooklyn)
29. Indiana (from Boston)
30. LA Clippers (from Milwaukee via Houston)

Note: The draft order above assumes that a team with the right to swap one pick for another exercises such right only if it is favorable to do so.

 

JT = 60 as Celtics Top Spurs in OT

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BOSTON – Boston Celtics all-star forward Jayson Tatum scored a career-high 60 points, including four key free throws in the final 12 seconds of overtime, as the Boston Celtics came back from a 32-point deficit to beat the vSan Antonio Spurs, 143-140, Friday night at TD Garden.

The 60-point performance tied Boston’s franchise record for most points in a game, set by Hall of Famer Larry Bird on March 12, 1985 in a game against the Atlanta Hawks that even had the Hawks players frolicking on the bench in amazement.

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The Celtics fell to the 32-point deficit 18 minutes into the game, but they roared back to tie the contest midway through the fourth period.

Boston took its first lead since the game’s opening minutes at 127-126 on Tatum’s 3-pointer with 38 seconds remaining in regulation. Tatum hit a free throw with 18.8 seconds to play to push the Celtics’ lead to two points. but the Spurs’ DeMar DeRozan re-tied the game with a pair of free throws with 10.8 seconds left, giving Boston a final shot for a win in regulation. Tatum missed a jumper at the buzzer to force overtime.

The extra period went back and forth, with the Spurs taking the lead at 137-136 on a jumper by Lonnie Walker IV with 31.7 seconds left. Jaylen Brown canned a 3-pointer to put Boston on top with 16.7 seconds to play, and Marcus Smart stole San Antonio’s ensuing inbounds pass, setting the stage for Tatum’s free throws that capped the comeback win for the Celtics.

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Brown added 17 points for the Celtics (34-30), though he hit just 5 of 24 shots from the floor. Aaron Nesmith had 16 points, and Smart and Robert Williams III scored 10 for Boston. Tristan Thompson grabbed 15 rebounds and Smart had 12 assists.

DeRozan scored 30 points and distributed 14 assists, tied for his career high, for the Spurs (31-31) in the loss. Dejounte Murray and Walker added 24 points apiece, Rudy Gay had 16 and Jakob Poeltl racked up 15 points and 10 rebounds.

The Spurs were up by as many as 25 points on the way to a 39-16 lead after 12 minutes of play. The Celtics’ first 12 points in the period were scored by Tatum, who finished with 14 in the first quarter.