Adapting to today's NBA has San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on cusp of ... - New York Daily News

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Gregg Popovich, flanked by current Spurs star Tim Duncan (l.) and former star David Robinson, would rather quietly win another crown than earn Coach of the Year.

The night he was presented with his second Coach of the Year award, Gregg Popovich hardly managed a smile as he walked onto the AT&T Center court in San Antonio to accept the trophy from his old championship center, David Robinson . Flanked by Robinson and Tim Duncan , the Spurs president and coach waved to the crowd exactly once as he accepted the trophy. He then walked briskly back to the huddle, looking to hand off the award to an assistant coach as fast as he could.

That moment told you everything you need to know about “Pop.”

“He doesn’t want the accolades,” said Steve Kerr, a former Spurs reserve who was at the Garden in 1999 when Popovich led San Antonio to its first title, against the Knicks. “He enjoys being out of the spotlight, all of the time.”

But staying under the radar has become virtually impossible for Popovich, especially this season.

Riding an 18-game winning streak, the Spurs are poised to advance to another Finals and are considered the favorites to win their fifth title of the Popovich era.

They have lost just twice in their last 31 games dating to March 21, but that is only a part of the story entering Sunday’s opener of the Western Conference finals against Oklahoma City in San Antonio. It’s being billed as the Spurs’ championship Big Three of Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili against the Thunder’s rising Big Three of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden.

But that is a misnomer.

San Antonio has become the Big Four, with Popovich deserving of equal billing with his top three players and every accolade that has come his way in his 16th season coaching the Spurs. He has transformed the Spurs, while keeping the core of his most recent title teams. In changing with the game, he has moved them from defensive juggernaut that also won championships in 2003, ’05 and ’07 â€" using a classic, grind-it-out halfcourt offense that averaged in the mid-’90s â€" to the most explosive team in the NBA.

“To me, he’s the best coach in the league, he’s a genius on both ends of the floor,” Dirk Nowitzki, the Finals MVP from last June, was saying the other day in Dallas. “The adjustment that he goes through â€" at the beginning they win all their championships with defense, and he saw where the game’s going. The game is free-flowing and has more movement where you need basically four shooters on the floor, at all times. He made it all happen.”

Understanding how the NBA rules have swung to favor offenses since he won his first title, Popovich has the Spurs playing a style in which they are averaging 102.5 ppg in the playoffs on 49% shooting, after scoring 103.7 a night on a league-best 48% shooting in the regular season. They were also the No. 1-ranked three-point shooting team, at 39%, but have ratcheted that up to 42% in eight dominating performances against the Utah and the Clippers in the first two rounds.