The longest active playoff streak in sports had been dead only a few hours, but Gregg Popovich did not want to talk about the past.
“That stuff is totally unimportant,” Popovich said.
Popovich’s Spurs were eliminated from the postseason chase before bouncing a basketball Thursday, with victories by the Memphis Grizzlies and the Cinderella Phoenix Suns in earlier games making moot their regular season finale against Utah.
As such, the Spurs will head home from the NBA’s Orlando, Fla., bubble with no first-round series to prepare for the first time since Tim Duncan was a senior at Wake Forest.
Death and taxes finally have outlasted the Spurs’ historic playoff streak, stopped at 22 seasons. Popovich was ready to talk about what comes next.
“I’m more excited about that than anything you guys are talking about right now, streaks or whatever the hell you are talking about ended,” Popovich said after the Spurs lost 118-112 to the Jazz in a game rendered meaningless before tipoff. “I could care less about that. I’m thrilled at the way they played here. They had no shot to get into this thing, and basically willed themselves into it to have this opportunity.”
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Team-Years
Houston Rockets 8
Portland Trailblazers 7
Toronto Raptors 7
Boston Celtics 5
Indiana Pacers 5
Oklahoma City Thunder 5
TeamYears
San Antonio Spurs 22 (1998-2019)
Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers (1964-1971) 22 (1950-1963)
Portland Trailblazers 21 (1983-2003)
Utah Jazz 20 (1984-2003)
Boston Celtics 19 (1951-1969)
On ExpressNews.com: The Spurs' historic run of NBA playoff appearances are over
The Spurs awoke Thursday morning still alive in the Western Conference playoff race, but needing some help to stay that way.
They did not get the help they needed. Not even close.
Instead, Memphis routed Milwaukee 119-106 to clinch a spot in a play-in for the No. 8 seed. Phoenix completed an 8-0 bubble run with a 128-102 shellacking of Dallas.
Had either result been reversed, the Spurs would have needed to beat Utah, then have Brooklyn defeat Portland to squeak into the play-in.
Instead, they learned during warmups that their playoff streak had died. Time of death, a little before 5:30 p.m.
“When we got there, we were checking the scores the whole time,” guard Derrick White said. “When we found out we weren’t going to make the playoffs, things kind of changed pretty quickly.”
With the finale against the Jazz suddenly transformed into the equivalent of a preseason game, Popovich kept on the bench his three leading scorers in Orlando — White, DeMar DeRozan and Rudy Gay — and awarded rookies Keldon Johnson and Luka Samanic their first career starts.
Combined with Lonnie Walker IV, it gave the Spurs three starters who were not born the last time the club failed to qualify for the postseason in 1997.
The Spurs remain tied in the NBA record books with the Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers, who made the postseason from 1950 to 1971.
“It’s tough,” DeRozan said. “More so tough putting your faith in someone else’s hands. If it had come down to us winning or losing, if we lost, I could kind of accept that.”
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Of course, the Spurs (32-39) have only themselves to blame for entrusting their playoff streak to other teams.
The club’s 27-36 mark before the NBA’s March 11 shutdown gave them a hill too tall to climb in Orlando.
They nearly scaled it anyway. Had it not been for a late 3-pointer from Philadelphia’s Shake Milton in the Spurs’ 132-130 loss in the first week of seeding play, they would have held more sway over their own fate.
As it stood, the Spurs arrived Thursday ready to make good on a chance that instead wilted before pregame introductions.
“We were excited to play,” Walker said. “Everyone was ready to come out and catch a (win). To see it finally pan out that way, it for sure hurt.”
For Popovich, this marks his first postseason at home since 1997, after he relieved Bob Hill of coaching duties after 21 games and guided an injury-riddled roster to a 20-62 mark.
It was the Spurs’ last losing record until this season.
Two months after the 1996-97 campaign ended, the Spurs won the No. 1 pick in the draft lottery, selected Duncan, and rerouted basketball history.
Among the collateral results: The 22-year postseason run Popovich saw end Thursday was the longest by any coach in United States professional sports history.
Not surprisingly, Popovich did not see the point in discussing any of that after the final horn of this irregular season in Orlando.
“I don’t dwell on the past,” Popovich said.
Neither did Popovich care to go into depth about his own coaching future. The 71-year-old is still on board to guide Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed until 2021 because of the pandemic.
Asked if he planned to return for a 24th season on the Spurs’ bench next season, Popovich shrugged.
“Why wouldn’t I?” he said.
If Popovich does come back for another NBA season, it will be partly because what he saw in Orlando buoyed him. The Spurs’ young core of White, Walker, Dejounte Murray and Keldon Johnson took leaps. DeRozan and Gay looked reinvigorated.
Now the Spurs return home with an identity, and a chance to integrate seven-time All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge into the mix, and cause for optimism that perhaps did not exist in March.
“Probably most people thought we were going to end up being 2-6 or 0-8 or whatever (in the bubble),” Popovich said. “We didn’t have a great season, but the guys came back committed. They wanted to turn a corner in a variety of ways. And they did.”
For the Spurs, there is further reason for hope upcoming on the league calendar. The NBA draft lottery is a week from Thursday, and for the first time since 1997 the league will dust off the ping-pong ball with the Spurs’ logo on it.
If the drawing goes to chalk, the Spurs will have the 11th overall pick, their highest since Duncan by seven slots.
The Spurs have departed the NBA bubble, moving on from a storied past and toward a future both exciting and uncertain.
Perhaps it was Walker who best reflected the Spurs’ mood leaving Orlando. Asked what message he had for Spurs fans in the wake of the halted playoff streak, he replied with two words:
“Stay tuned.”
jmcdonald@express-news
Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN
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