BOISE, Idaho — THIS DAY IN SPORTS…June 23, 2005:
The San Antonio Spurs win their third NBA championship in seven years, and Tim Duncan takes his third Finals MVP award. The Spurs dethroned the defending champion Detroit Pistons with an 81-74 Game 7 victory. Duncan recorded double-doubles in every game for the Spurs, who would win two more titles during this run (in 2007 and 2014). It was the zenith for a franchise that started out as the Dallas Chaparrals of the ABA before becoming one of the NBA’s most unexpected dynasties. They were the Spurs by the time they merged into the NBA in 1976.
Duncan was finishing his eighth NBA season after being the first overall pick in the NBA Draft out of Wake Forest in 1997. He quickly established himself as an NBA star, as he was named Rookie of the Year in 1998. For his first six seasons, Duncan played alongside 7-foot veteran David Robison. Together, they were known as the “Twin Towers” and teamed to win San Antonio’s first two NBA titles. Robinson retired after the second one in 2003, and Duncan was left to cement his status as one of the greatest players in NBA history. He was a two-time NBA MVP, a 15-time All-Star, and is the only player in history to be named to both the All-NBA Team and All-Defensive Team for 13 consecutive seasons.
Behind the Spurs’ run of excellence was their coach, Gregg Popovich. He took over the struggling team in late 1996, and the following season San Antonio began a streak of 22 straight winning records. Popovich has since become the winningest coach in NBA history with 1,366 victories. In addition to five NBA titles, Popovich coached the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team to the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021). He played college basketball at Air Force, graduated from the academy, and started his coaching career there in 1973.
Popovich is now 74 years old and, incredibly, is going into his 28th season as head coach of the Spurs. He’s the longest-tenured active coach in any major North American sport. San Antonio is coming off one of its worst seasons at 22-60, but the net result of that misery was the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft. On Thursday night, Popovich became Victor Wembanyama’s head coach. The 7-4 Frenchman is considered the greatest NBA prospect of this generation, and most expect a Gregg Popovich renaissance. After all, the first player Popovich drafted after his first season as head coach was Duncan. This will be worth watching.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
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