Gregg Popovich (Photo : Reuters)
Adorably called "Coach Pop" or simply "Pop" in the league, Gregg Popovich is no doubt one of the greatest coaches to ever mentor one of the greatest team in the history of the NBA and his latest milestone has put him into a higher level of admiration as he won his 1,000th career win on Monday after beating the Indiana Pacers.
The career-defining moment came after a buzzer-beater shot made by Marco Belinelli that put the San Antonio Spurs ahead of the Pacers and won the game 95-93. With the win, Popovich is officially the ninth NBA coach to reach 1,000 wins in a career and join the esteemed list that includes Phil Jackson, Pat Riley and Larry Brown.
When asked about his secret that helped him reached the milestone Popovich only said, "I've been here a long time and I've had good players. That's the formula."
Without question, Popovich is referring to Tim Duncan when he said "good players." Duncan has played 929 games out of Popovich's 1,000 wins, a record for most wins for a player-coach duo in the history of NBA, according to Bleacher Report.
Of the nine NBA coaches that achieved the 1,000 wins milestone, Popovich ranks second to Phil Jackson in terms of winning percentage. Jackson has a winning percentage of .704 while Popovich has .684.
Currently, Popovich has 5 championship title and 3 coach of the year title under his belt. He started coaching the Spurs during the 1996-1997 season, according to ESPN.
Popovich recently signed a five-year contract extension to stay with the Spurs. Many analysts are positive that if he exhausts the five year extension there is a big possibility that he will surpass Phil Jackson's record of 1,155 career wins as a coach.
