End of an era

The San Antonio Spurs had finally said goodbye to the man who had been calling the plays for the past 29 years. Mainly because of health issues, Greg Popovich stepped down from active coaching duties and Mitch Johnson, who had been the interim head coach in Popovich’s absence, officially became San Antonio’s 18th head coach.

- By BOBBY MOTUS

Coach Pop retires as the winningest coach in the NBA with 1,422 career wins including 5 NBA titles (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014). His win-loss percentage among coaches with at least 20 years of coaching experience is bested only by Phil Jackson, Red Auerbach and Pat Riley. More than any other coach, he had 19 50-win seasons.

He won the Coach of the Year award 3 times — in 2003 when the Spurs won their second title, in 2012 and in 2014 along with their 5th championship. Coach Pop led Team USA to the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.