Tag: GREGG POPOVICH
Pop on loss to Warriors: ‘If you shoot 4 for 33 from three, your defense better be pretty perfect’
The Spurs started slowly against the Warriors on Wednesday night and could not recover. San Antonio gave up 36 points and trailed by 12 after one quarter. The Spurs would fall behind by as many as 22 points in the first half and ultimately would lose on the road to Golden State 121-99.
San Antonio struggled with their shooting against the Warriors. They finished the game shooting 37% from the field, including 4/33 from three-point range. Conversely, their defense was not good. They allowed the Warriors to shoot 50% from the field and allowed Steph Curry to score 20 of his game-high 26 points in the first half.
“I thought we had a bad start,” Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said after the game. “They jumped on us at the beginning of game for whatever reasons, and we never got back. If you shoot 4 for 33 from three, your defense better be pretty perfect, and it wasn’t, but it’s gonna happen, nobody is going to go undefeated. Hopefully, we learned some things tonight and just keep at it.”
Dejounte Murray, who led San Antonio with 22 points, agreed with Popovich; the Spurs were hit hard early and were not able to respond.
“We came out in the first half and just got punched in the face and didn’t know how to get back up as a whole—not making shots don’t make it better,” Murray said. “Halftime, we tried to come out and fight and fight. They’re the Warriors, and they kept fighting, kept fighting, and we just couldn’t get over that hump.”
After playing seven of their last nine game on the road, the Spurs will play nine of their next eleven at home, but with no fans allowed in the building, Popovich thinks home-court advantage is not the same.
“It’s pretty even-steven,” he said. “I think I mentioned that to you guys before. There’s not much of a home-court advantage, I don’t think.”
While home-court advantage may not be the same, getting home and not traveling can’t hurt, and based on the way they shot the ball on Wednesday night, maybe San Antonio could use some time off the road and could benefit from some home cooking.
Patty Mills: ‘He(DeRozan), obviously, loves the big moments’
Saturday night’s road victory for the Spurs(5-4) was all about DeMar DeRozan. The 12-year veteran scored 13 of his game and season-high 38 points in the 4th quarter and overtime, and ultimately, the Spurs would defeat Minnesota(2-7) 125-122 in overtime. The Spurs play Minnesota again on Sunday night
“DeMar won the game for us,” Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said after the game. “He and Patty(Mills) playing out there with their pick-and-roll created a lot of opportunities. DeMar was the guy.”
Spurs’ Dejounte Murray, who scored 22 points against Minnesota, added this on DeRozan: “He’s a beast. That’s DeMar. Definitely, not the 82nd(ESPN’s list of best players in league) best player in the NBA. Damn sure, tell you that. That’s DeMar; we believe in him. We are really, really confident in him. We got the win; that’s all that matters.”
Late in games, DeRozan is one of the go-to guys for the Spurs, and according to him, it’s his job to make things happen for San Antonio down the stretch.
“It’s a mindset that I have, especially late in games when games are close,” he said. “I feel like It’s imperative; it’s my job to go out there and make something happen and pull out a win.”
Patty Mills, another 12-year veteran, who scored 21 points off the bench against Minnesota, added this about DeRozan: “He(DeRozan), obviously, loves the big moments, and loves to makes plays, loves to make big plays. He lives for those moments.’
San Antonio is 3-0 on their current five-game road trip, including wins over the Clippers and Lakers, and the veterans are leading the way. Patty Mills led the Spurs with 27 points in the team’s win over the Clippers, and LaMarcus Aldridge, a 15-year veteran, led the team with 28 points in San Antonio’s win over the Lakers, and of course, DeRozan’s big-time effort against Minnesota on Saturday night.
According to Mills, the Spurs’ leaders are showing the young guys what it takes to close out games.
“Not being rattled in those big moments. I think that’s huge,” Mills said. “In terms of leadership and actions. The conversations that we’re having on the side, making sure the young boys understand what we’re doing while we are doing it. Helping them here and there have been good. The actions that we’re showing on the court, knowing who the leaders are and how to go about certain situations, and that helps young guys learn on the fly as well.”
Getting Aldridge back, who missed the team’s winless three-game homestand, helps. Now, after nine games, the Spurs are over .500 and playing some terrific basketball, and the veterans are leading the way.
Popovich on Trump: ‘He loved those people hitting the Capitol because that’s what he cares about'(VIDEO)
Popovich is not happy with Donald Trump
Before the Spurs’ huge road win against the Lakers on Thursday night, San Antonio’s head coach Gregg Popovich gave his thoughts on the riots at the Capitol building in Washington D.C. on Wednesday. Sadly, five people died, and several were injured.
It was a sad scene for sure and a scene that should have never happened, and according to Popovich, Trump enjoyed it.
“He loved those people hitting the Capitol because that’s what he cares about. He’s incapable of caring, and it’s sad because he’s a deranged, really flawed individual, but he’s also dangerous,” Popovich said. “That’s why I don’t think it’s so far-fetched for people to start talking about the 25th Amendment.”
The 25th Amendment allows the president to be removed if he/she “is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”
Listen to Pop’s rant about Trump below:
Spurs’ Johnson: ‘Whoever is put in front of me, I go at them and give them everything I got’
Two straight games against the world-champion Lakers and two consecutive losses for the Spurs, but the game on Friday night was much closer. Behind Anthony Davis’ season-high 34 points and 11 rebounds and LeBron James, who recorded a triple-double with 26 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists, the Lakers defeated San Antonio 109-103 at AT&T Center. After starting 2-0, the Spurs have now lost three straight.
The Lakers(4-2) defeated the Spurs(2-3) in San Antonio on Wednesday night 121-107. Coming into Friday’s action, San Antonio was again without LaMarcus Aldridge for the second game in a row due to a knee injury.
In Friday’s game, the Spurs entered the fourth quarter up by four against the Lakers, but they were outscored by 10 in the final period, and the Lakers finished the game with a 9-0 run. There are no moral victories at this level, but according to Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, although the team lost, these types of games are good for the young Spurs.
“First seven out of ten games to start out are against playoffs teams,” Popovich said after the game. “We’re going to be on the road here for about nine or ten days. so It’s a tough start for those young guys; they’ll benefit from it in the long run.”
The young guys stepped up in a losing effort for San Antonio against the Lakers, including Keldon Johnson, who had a career-high 26 points against Los Angeles.
“Whoever is put in front of me, I go at them and give them everything I got,” Johnson said. “That’s why I work hard in the offseason on my game. I put it into use when I go play. I just go out there and compete.”
DeMar DeRozan, who chipped in with 23 points against the Lakers, thinks the Spurs can build off what they did against Los Angeles on Friday night.
“We made a lot of things tough on the Lakers tonight,” DeRozan said. “Overall, just continue to build from that. We played the champs at a high level.”
Friday’s game also saw the return of Derrick White. The fourth-year guard made his season debut after recovering from toe surgery on his left foot in the offseason. He also signed a reported four-year, $ 73 million extension with the Spurs in December. White, who is on a minutes restriction, scored nine points in 23 minutes on Friday night.
The Lakers are world-champions for a reason, and beating them was not going to be easy, especially without Aldridge. San Antonio hosts another playoff team in the Utah Jazz on Sunday, and after Utah, they begin a five-game road trip, so it’s important they get that game against Utah before they head out on the road.
Hammon on coaching Spurs: ‘It’s a big deal; it’s a substantial moment’
We have seen so many things go wrong in 2020, whether it’s the COVID-19 pandemic or the untimely deaths of so many people in the world of sports and entertainment, 2020 will be a year that many will talk about for a long time.
On Wednesday in San Antonio, we finally got some good news and another event we will be talking about for a long time. Former WNBA star and current Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon made history. After Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich was ejected in the second quarter in the team’s 121-107 loss to the Lakers, Hammon became the first woman in NBA history to serve as a head coach.
The 43-year old Hammon has been an assistant coach with the Spurs for six seasons, and she coached San Antonio’s summer league team in 2015. When the Spurs hired Hammon in 2014, she became the second female coach in league history.
After the game, Hammon discussed what it meant to be the first female to lead an NBA team.
“Obviously, it’s a big deal; it’s a substantial moment,” Hammon said. “I got traded here in 2007, so I’ve been in San Antonio apart of the Spurs and sports organization, with the (Silver) Stars and everything for 13 years, so I have a lot of time invested, and they have a lot of time invested in me, and building me and getting me better. Honestly, in the moment, I was just trying to win the game.
“I say this a lot, but I try not to think about the huge picture and the huge aspect of it because it can get overwhelming. It’s my job to go in there and be focused for those guys and make sure that I’m helping them do the things that will help us win. I really have not had time to reflect. I haven’t looked at my phone, so I have no idea what’s going on outside of AT&T Center tonight.”
Many believe that Hammon will be a head coach in the NBA in the near future, and when she does, she and others will always remember December 30, 2020.
Watch below as Hammon talks being the head coach for the Spurs on Wednesday night:
Popovich: ‘It’s a sad day for all of us who knew Jerry Sloan’
Former longtime Utah Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan died on Friday. He was 78.
Sloan had been battling Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia, and he died from complications of the conditions. Before his coaching career, Sloan played 11 seasons in the NBA with the Bullets and Bulls, and he would retire from the NBA in 1976.
After retiring from the NBA, Sloan would coach the Bulls from 1979-1982, and in 1988, Sloan would coach the Utah Jazz, where he had a lot of success, including two NBA Finals appearances. Both times in the Finals, the Jazz would lose to Jordan and the Bulls.
He would be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009. Sloan resigned from the Jazz and ended his coaching career in 2011. After 26 years of coaching(23 with the Jazz), he finished with 1221 wins.
A man who looked up to Sloan was Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, and on Friday, Popovich issued the following statement regarding the passing of Jerry Sloan:
“It’s a sad day for all of us who knew Jerry Sloan. Not only on the basketball court but, more importantly, as a human being. He was genuine and true. And that is rare.
“He was a mentor for me from afar until I got to know him. A man who suffered no fools, he possessed a humor, often disguised, and had a heart as big as the prairie.”
Spurs announce coaching staff for 2019-20 season
The San Antonio Spurs today announced that Mitch Johnson has been promoted to an assistant coach while Darius Songalia has been elevated to a player development assistant on Gregg Popovich’s staff.
At the same time the Spurs have announced the following promotions and additions to the basketball operations staff: Brandon James – vice president of basketball administration and deputy general counsel, Dave Telep – director of player personnel, Adam Glessner – senior director of basketball intelligence, Phil Cullen – director of basketball operations and innovation, Niraj Mulji – director of basketball strategy, Nick Repole – director of research and development, Landry Fields – Austin Spurs general manager, Tyler Self – Austin Spurs assistant general manager and Keon Weise – performance informatic scout.
Johnson has spent the past three seasons as an assistant coach for the Austin Spurs, San Antonio’s G League affiliate, where he helped guide the team to the 2018 G League Championship.
Songalia enters his second season with the Silver and Black after spending last year as a quality assurance assistant in the video department. Before coming to the Spurs, he played eight seasons in the NBA.
James enters his eighth season in the Spurs front office as in-house counsel for basketball operations responsible for strategy and innovation, legal affairs and CBA, salary cap and other administrative matters.
Telep is now in his seventh season with San Antonio. He was promoted to director of scouting in August 2016 after spending the past three seasons as the team’s scouting coordinator.
Glessner is set to begin his second season with the Silver and Black. Prior to joining the Spurs he spent four seasons with the Detroit Pistons as the team’s director of player personnel after being promoted from pro scout in 2016.
Cullen enters his fourth season with the Spurs after spending the last three years as the team’s director of basketball strategy.
Mulji enters his sixth season with the Spurs. He’s spent the past three seasons as basketball operations manager after joining the Silver and Black in 2014 as a basketball operations quality assurance assistant.
Repole is set to begin his fourth season in San Antonio after previously serving as director of basketball information systems.
Fields makes the move to Austin after spending the past three seasons serving as a college scout. He originally joined the Spurs in 2016 after a five-year NBA playing career.
Self enters his third season in San Antonio after spending the last two seasons as a quality assurance assistant in the basketball operations department.
Weise joins the Spurs after spending 16 seasons with the Orlando Magic in various different roles, most recently head athletic trainer from 2010-18.
2019-20 San Antonio Spurs Basketball Operations Staff Additions and Promotions
Mitch Johnson – Assistant Coach
Darius Songalia – Player Development Assistant
Brandon James – Vice President of Basketball Administration and Deputy General Counsel
Dave Telep – Director of Player Personnel
Adam Glessner – Senior Director of Basketball Intelligence
Phil Cullen – Director of Basketball Operations and Innovation
Niraj Mulji – Director of Basketball Strategy
Nick Repole – Director of Research and Development
Landry Fields – Austin Spurs General Manager
Tyler Self – Austin Spurs Assistant General Manager
Keon Weise – Performance Informatics Scout
Popovich on Team USA: ‘I wish I could have gotten them closer, but it didn’t happen’
In its final 2019 FIBA World Cup game, the USA men (6-2) had five players score in double-figures and recorded 29 assists in an 87-74 win over Poland (4-4) on Saturday afternoon at Wukesong Sport Arena in Beijing, China.
The USA finished the tournament in seventh place and now is 129-29 all time in FIBA World Cup action. As one of the top two finishing teams from the FIBA Americas zone, the USA also qualified for the 2020 Olympics.
“There are wonderful teams and wonderful coaches all over the world, so there’s no surprise in any of that,” said Gregg Popovich (USA and San Antonio Spurs head coach). “You go compete, and you know the best teams win. I was thrilled with the group of guys that we were able to coach. They made the sacrifice. They worked hard. They let us coach them, and we got them to a certain point in a short period of time. I wish I could have gotten them closer, but it didn’t happen.”
Donovan Mitchell (Utah Jazz) was the USA top scorer with 16 points, including 4-of-4 from 3-point, and a USA men’s World Cup record-tying 10 assists.
“You know, obviously, we didn’t get the result that we had wanted, but to be able to go to war with a bunch of guys who really sacrificed not only their time, their bodies, there’s not a lot more you can ask for,” Mitchell said. “I’ve never been a part of USA Basketball, and this was an incredible experience. Obviously, with the game today we showed a lot of character, because even after losing some teams can go the other way and say whatever, and that wasn’t the case with these guys. I’m really happy and blessed to have this opportunity.”
Joe Harris (Brooklyn Nets) finished with 14 points; Khris Middleton (Milwaukee Bucks) added 13 points and six assists; Derrick White (San Antonio Spurs) contributed 12 points and seven assists; and Harrison Barnes (Sacramento Kings) tallied 10 points.
“It was a good win here today,” White said. “We wanted to go out winning. I mean, obviously, we fell short of our goal, but overall I think it was special to play with these guys in the locker room, and we had a great group of guys. I think we all learned a lot from it.”
The USA got off to a strong start and shot 57.9% from the field in the first quarter, including 10 assists on 11 field goals, while its defense held Poland to 0-of-7 from 3-point.
With the USA leading 18-14, the Americans closed on a 10-0 run and went ahead 28-14 after the first 10 minutes.
Seven scorers contributed for the USA in the second period, which increased its advantage by three points and headed into the halftime locker room with a 47-30 lead.
The third quarter was Poland’s strongest effort, and they outscored the USA 25-16 in the period, including a 14-2 stretch that cut the lead to seven points, 54-47, at 4:07. The USA pushed its cushion back to 63-49 at 1:17, but Poland sank two 3-pointers and made it to 63-55 with 10 minutes to play.
Twice early in the fourth quarter, Poland again narrowed the gap to seven points, but each time the USA responded, outscoring Poland 24-19 in the fourth period to earn the 87-74 win.
“We came out here, and we checked a couple boxes, but we didn’t get everything accomplished,” said Myles Turner (Indiana Pacers), who collected eight rebounds to go with his seven points and four blocked shots. “We qualified this team for the Olympics coming up, but we didn’t get that gold medal – something that is going to stick with us for a very long, shoot, the rest of our lives. And, you know, it hurts a little bit, but we came out here, and I think we did the best we could, given the circumstances.”
For the game, the USA shot 50.8% (31-61 FGs) from the field and 48.0% from 3-point (12-25 3pt FGs), and it held Poland to 39.7% shooting (29-73 FGs) and just 25.9% from 3-point (7-27 3pt FGs).
Photo/courtesy: USA Basketball
