Dejounte Murray-led San Antonio Spurs held off the host Boston Celtics 99-97 in Gregg Popovich's 2,000th game.
He is the first person in NBA history to coach 2,000 games for the same squad. His balance in these 2,000 games is 1,325 wins and 675 defeats.
''This record means that I'm old, been at the same place for a long time, worked with a lot of great players, blah, blah, blah,'' the 72-year-old commented on his achievement.
Popovich came to the Texas club at the start of the 1996–97 season. During his years there, he guided the Spurs to the five NBA titles. Moreover, he has received the Coach of the Year award three times and has been nominated as NBA All-Star Game head coach four times.
Popovich needs 11 more wins to surpass Don Nelson (1,335) to become the winningest NBA head coach of all time.
The Spurs legend ranks sixth overall in most duels coached in NBA history. Lenny Wilkens is a clear leader in this category, having 2,487 matches on his resume.
Coaches with most games coached:
- Lenny Wilkens 2,487
- Don Nelson 2,398
- Bill Fitch 2,050
- Jerry Sloan 2,024
- Larry Brown 2,002
- Gregg Popovich 2,000
- George Karl 1,999
- Dick Motta 1,952
- Pay Riley 1,904
- Rick Adelman 1,791