<a href="https://www.archysport.com/2022/01/team-building-at-international-competitions-is-sprinting-the-ultimate-challenge-for-the-new-hc-of-the-us-representative-nba-number-web/" title="Team building at international competitions is "sprinting". The ultimate challenge for the new HC of the US representative. —NBA –Number Web”>Gregg Popovich has coached the San Antonio Spurs since 1994. During this time he was almost never absent. But now he is out for several games. The reason is not known.
Gregg Popovich is an absolute legend in US basketball. There is no other way to describe the 75-year-old’s career. Popovich has been coaching the San Antonio Spurs for 29 seasons now, during which time he has achieved 1,390 victories, unmatched in the NBA, and he has also won the title in the best basketball league in the world five times.
In 2020 he also led the US basketball team to the gold medal at the Olympic Games. Popovich is the metronome on the sidelines. But now there are serious concerns about the coach.
As ESPN reports, Popovich was unable to lead his team in the Texans’ game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday; assistant coach Mitch Johnson took over in his place. He is said to have only found out about two hours before the game that his head coach was out.
It has now been announced that Johnson will also coach the Spurs in the games against the LA Clippers (Monday/local time) and the Houston Rockets (Wednesday). Popovich is out “indefinitely,” ESPN has learned. The reason is an illness, but nothing further is known about it so far.
“He’s not feeling well,” Johnson said, according to NBA.com. He tried not to dramatize Popovich’s illness. “It’s happened before. I think it’s just a matter of being ready and stepping in in a situation like this. We’ve had something like that before with injuries, and sometimes people just get sick or don’t feel well, that happens just in life.”
There have only been three times in the past five years that Popovich has been unable to stand on the sideline. When the absences occurred, his assistants at the time, Tim Duncan and Becky Hammon, took over. In 2018, Popovich had to be substituted for a game after his wife Erin died at the age of 67 after a long illness.
The team showed in their 113:103 win against the Timberwolves that the Spurs can do it without the head coach if necessary. “Mitch did a great job,” said Spurs star player Chris Paul afterwards. “I think our entire coaching staff was outstanding.”
