The San Antonio coach has led the team to five NBA championships but taking a team depleted by injuries and a retirement to the Conference finals was something else
The San Antonio Spurs’ season is over eight wins short of the franchise’s sixth championship, swept by the Golden State Warriors and outscored by 84 points over the final three and one half games of the Western Conference Finals. So concludes the finest coaching performance in Gregg Popovich’s 21 seasons leading the Spurs.
San Antonio’s line-up for their Game 4 defeat showed how little Popovich had to work with at the end. Patty Mills, Danny Green, Jonathon Simmons, what’s left of LaMarcus Aldridge and then Manu Ginobili getting an honorary start for what may have been his final game in a remarkable NBA career. On the sidelines was MVP candidate Kawhi Leonard, out with an ankle injury since late in the first half of Game 1 when Golden State’s Zaza Pachulia accidentally undercut him (or committed basketball “manslaughter”, depending on your point of view).
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