Gregg Popovich becomes 9th coach in NBA history with 1.000 wins

With a come-from-behind 95-93 victory at Indianapolis over the Pacers on Monday night, Gregg Popovich becomes the ninth coach in NBA history with 1,000 wins, the second to have won 1,000 with one franchise and the first to join the elite club having coached a single team.

"I've been here a long time and I've had good players. That's the formula," Popovich said. "Getting the players is difficult, but I've been fortunate to have good ones. The time, that's the most important element. You have to be around for a while I guess."

Popovich celebrated in his typical low-key way. He walked to midcourt, putt an arm around Pacers coach Frank Vogel, hugged one of his former players and stoically strolled into the Spurs' locker room though he later acknowledged he might drink some wine.

While Popovich does have five NBA championships, few midseason wins have come with this much fanfare.

Only two coaches, Phil Jackson and Pat Riley, reached 1,000 wins faster than Popovich. Only one other coach, Jerry Sloan, achieved the feat with one team.

Sloan won 1,127 games with Utah. Popovich is 1,000-462 in 19 NBA seasons, all with San Antonio.
His regular-season winning percentage (.684) ranks fifth all time. His playoff winning percentage is seventh (.623) though only two men in front of him coached more than 100 postseason games, Jackson and Billy Cunningham.