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San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich knows a thing or two about what it takes to win. 

Popovich became the winningest coach in NBA regular-season history this past season and currently sits at 1,344 wins headed into the 2022-23 slate. Oh, and he's won five championships in his 27 years with the Spurs.

And on Tuesday, Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon, who coached under Popovich as an assistant in San Antonio for eight seasons, pulled her own team one win away from a WNBA title. 

After a win in Game 1 over the Connecticut Sun on Sunday, the Aces pulled away with a second-straight win at home before they hit the road for a potential series-clinching Game 3 on Thursday. 

Popovich was in attendance for Game 2 on Tuesday, but it appears that Hammon wanted her former mentor to impart some championship-winning wisdom on her players with a postgame speech. 

Take a look:

Hammon, 45, led the Aces to a league-best 26-10 record this season and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. On Aug. 26, she became the first former WNBA player to win the Coach of the Year award in her first season and the third former player to receive the honor.

Hammon set multiple milestones during her eight-year assistant coaching career with the Spurs. The first full-time female assistant coach in any of the four major North American sports, Hammon used her decorated basketball background to pave an inspirational pathway.

Now, after making a quiet exit from the Spurs prior to the team's Western Conference Play-In loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on April 13, Hammon is one game away from adding to her already loaded résumé once again.

Tipoff for Thursday's Game 3 between the Aces and Sun is set for 8 p.m. C.T. 


You can follow Zach Dimmitt on Twitter at @ZachDimmitt7

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