San Antonio Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich Achieves 1,000th Win

Love or hate him, Gregg Popovich has officially achieved his 1,000th win as the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs, who have been fairly inconsistent in the 2014-2015 season, failed to achieve this feat in their first attempt against the Toronto Raptors.

And during the fourth quarter, it looked like they would be unsuccessful in their second attempt: but the team rallied from a 14-point deficit late in the fourth quarter. Marco Belinelli would seal the deal by hitting a 2-point shot with 2.1 seconds left in the game, securing the 95-93 victory over the Indiana Pacers and Pop’s 1,000th win.

As for the numbers, Popovich is the third fastest coach to reach a 1,000 wins: with both Phil Jackson and Pat Riley doing it quicker. But he is only the second coach ever to do it entirely with one team: with the other being Jerry Sloan, who won over a thousand games with the Utah Jazz.

This win places Pop ninth on the all-time wins list, behind Rick Edelman (1,042) and Larry Brown (1,098) — Don Nelson is the all-time leader with 1,335 regular season victories. Best of all, out of the eight other coaches to reach this milestone, the Spurs head coach has the second highest winning percentage: his .684 only sits behind Phil Jackson’s .704.

Lets be honest, his five championships in 19 years of coaching has already placed him into the greatest coaches of all-time category: the 1,000 win is just icing on the cake.