Ex Spurs Meet as Coaches in NBA Finals for Consecutive Year
The San Antonio Spurs haven't made the playoffs since the 2018-19 season, going a combined 99-126 in the three seasons since.
But for the second-consecutive year, the league will have a hard time ignoring the influence that the Spurs and coach Gregg Popovich have littered across the NBA Finals, as the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics meet for Game 1 on Thursday in Oakland.
David Butler II, USA TODAY
Kelley L. Cox, USA TODAY
Gary A. Vasquez, USA TODAY
Boston coach Ime Udoka, who has now led the Celtics to their 22nd Finals appearance in his first season as head coach, will play chess with Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who has won three rings with Golden State since arriving in 2015.
Once again, a former Spur is guaranteed a championship, making these Finals a not-so-strange mirror from a season ago. Last summer, one of Pop's former players faced off for the title against one of his longest-tenured assistants. In six games, Mike Budenholzer and the Milwaukee Bucks took down coach Monty Williams' Phoenix Suns.
Budenholzer served as an assistant alongside Popovich for 18 seasons, winning five championships before being hired by the Atlanta Hawks in 2013.
He finally broke through to the NBA mountaintop as a head coach against Williams, who played under Pop and the Spurs for two seasons from 1996-to-98. He led the Suns to an NBA and franchise-best 64-18 record this season.
Charles Krupa, STF / Associated Press
Udoka will now look to take down a former Spur in Kerr, who has won three rings with the Warriors since being hired in 2015. These add on to the five championships he won as a player.
After winning three-straight titles with NBA legend Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls from 1996-to-98, Kerr went to the Spurs and immediately won his fourth career title in his first year with the team in 1999. His final season as a player ended with another ring with San Antonio in 2003.
It's a tough resume to stack up against, but Udoka's time could be now. He played 160 of his 316 career NBA games with the Spurs over three seasons before his last year in the league in 2011. He then joined Popovich's staff in 2012, winning a ring as an assistant in 2014 before departing in 2019.
After one season apiece as an assistant with the 76ers and the Nets, the Celtics hired Udoka in June 2021 as the franchise's newest head coach.
The two will battle it out Thursday night at 8 p.m. inside the ruckus home of the Warriors at Chase Center in Oakland. Former Spur and current Celtics guard Derrick White will join Udoka on the quest toward leading Boston to its 18th title in franchise history.
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