LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) – Gregg Popovich did not have much thought in the playoffs of San Antonio when it came to running.
He doesn’t think about it now either.
The Spurs’ record of 22 consecutive playoff appearances is over, and the longest season in team history – nearly 300 days from the first game to the last – is also, strangely, before the NBA is used to watching . The final outcome was a 118-112 loss to the Utah Jazz on Thursday night, a game that was significant in the stands.
“Looking at the past is not doing much good,” Popovich said. “Every success we’ve had has been because we had some great players.”
Rayjon Tucker had 18 points for the Jazz, who finished with eight players in double figures and used their regulars sparingly or not at all.
“You can’t say enough about the Spurs,” said Jazz coach Quin Snyder. “They’re been the main franchise in the NBA for a long time.”
Keldon Johnson scored 24 points to lead seven Spurs in double figures. Marco Belinelli and Luka Samanic each had 16 for San Antonio.
The Spurs were officially fired when Memphis defeated Milwaukee, and Phoenix completed an unrestricted eight-game run in the NBA’s restart bubble with a victory over Dallas.
Those games went to finals shortly before San Antonio-Utah began. The Spurs needed the Grizzlies or the Suns to lose in order to have any chance of getting into the West play-in series that begins Saturday to decide on the NBA’s final mountain.
“It’s tough,” Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan said. “It’s more difficult to put your trust in someone else’s hands.”
Popovich’s routine seems normal. He met with assistants to discuss strategy before addressing players at timeouts. When someone needed a little 1-on-1 instruction, he approached and offered a word or two.
It looked just like it always does. Only this time it was very different.
For the first time since April 1997, the Spurs played a game knowing the playoffs were out of reach. The 22-year-old run of playoff spots tied the Philadelphia 76ers’ franchise for the longest time in NBA history. The 76ers, starting as the Syracuse Nationals before moving to Philadelphia, went to the playoffs every year from 1950 to 1971.
With San Antonio out, the longest active postseason region now belongs to the Houston Rockets. They will be in the playoffs for the eighth consecutive year starting new week.
This is how long the region went: David Stern was not even halfway through his 30-year run as commissioner when it began. The Charlotte Bobcats – which is what the current Hornets went through – were still 6-1 / 2 years away from playing their first game. Pat Riley was still coaching for the Los Angeles Lakers.
And now, for the first time since 1981, the playoffs will take place without Riley or Popovich as head coaches.
The Spurs won five championships during the region. They played 284 postseason games over those years; the only franchises within 100 of them were the Lakers (218), Miami (196) and Boston (192). And the Spurs won 170 playoff games in that span; but seven franchises have more playoff wins in their entire history.
All 170 of those wins for the Spurs came under Popovich, a total that gives him more career playoff wins than what two current coaches combined. There were 102 players who came to the region in at least one Spurs playoff game, including current NBA head coaches Jacque Vaughn, Steve Kerr and Monty Williams.
The Spurs came to Disney as playoff-long shots and felt that the eight games they were guaranteed to play at the restart would be ways to grow young players out of competition. They made it to the last possible day of controversy.
“At this point, it has been a great success for our team and our young players, the development of which we have been talking from the beginning,” said Popovich. “We are very happy with what has happened here.”
He has given the go-ahead rave reviews, both on and off the floor.
Popovich – a graduate of the Air Force Academy and the coach of the men’s national basketball team of the United States Basketball – wore a shirt first name that read “Voice your life depends on.” He has remained outspoken about the need to end racial injustice and police brutality in the time of the Spurs in the bubble, and talks about that maybe as much as not more than he has about basketball.
“It’s important to bring these up, painful as they are,” Popovich said. “Some people are tired of hearing about it. But that’s the point. It needs to change. ”
