Bonds still strong after all these years

Gregg Popovich took yesterday off, for good reason. There was no way he was going to miss Tim Duncan’s enshrinement into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

The Spurs played yesterday without their head coach, after Popovich made the decision to fly to Connecticut to see Duncan – with whom he won five NBA championships – officially go into the Hall alongside Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett and six others.

The bond between Popovich and Duncan started getting forged in 1997, when the Spurs were about to use the No1 pick in that year’s draft on the forward who was coming off a stellar career at Wake Forest. Popovich flew to the Virgin Islands, Duncan’s home, and wanted to learn everything about him.

The chemistry was immediate, and it has lasted.

‘‘It started there, it started with him going out of his way to want to know who I was as a person, wanting to meet my friends, wanting to meet my father, sit down and speak with him,’’ Duncan said. ‘‘It started there. And he built that trust from early on, just trying to understand who I was – not just as a basketball player, but as a person and beyond.’’

Popovich said earlier this month that he still marvels at Duncan’s story, how a kid from the islands just happened to become one of the best players to touch a basketball.

‘‘I do, especially since he was a swimmer and wanted to be an Olympian, as far as that goes. So, it’s a pretty incredible story.

Everybody knows the story, but it’s true. That’s something that we’re all very happy about. We still toast him when we have dinners; as we’ve said before, ‘Thank you, Timmy’.’’

Popovich had another compelling reason to attend. He quietly championed the Hall candidacy of Rudy Tomjanovich for years; Tomjanovich, the two-time champion coach of the Houston Rockets in 1994 and 1995, also finally was enshrined as part of this Hall class.

‘‘I never really understood why he was continually overlooked,’’ Popovich said of Tomjanovich. ‘‘I mean, as much success as he had, year in and year out, and the championships he won were really hard-fought. He came from the lower end of the rankings in both situations to just gut it out. He was the coach of the Olympic teams and got a gold medal. He was a class act. His players loved him. He has the game in his blood. I always thought he was an obvious choice. So, for it to finally happen, is just a wonderful thing for him and his family and all of us who are his friends.’’

Popovich is not in the Hall of Fame, though it is widely assumed that his call is coming in the not-too-distant future. He is not a finalist for the 2021 class, which will be announced today and enshrined in September.

The enshrinement ceremony for this year was moved to the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut largely because of the additional space it provides for a socially distanced event that adheres to protocols put in place for gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic. – AP

Sam Burns still has the lead going into the final round of the AT&T Byron Nelson despite more magic on the 18th green from local favourite Jordan Spieth.

Now it’s a race to beat the weather in Texas in the final round with a good number of the players headed to the PGA Championship in South Carolina.

Burns shot a three-under-par 69 for a one-stroke lead over K H Lee, who had a 67. Spieth, Matt Kuchar and Charl Schwartzel each shot 66 and were three strokes back along with Alex Noren, who shot 70.

The players will switch from twosomes back to threesomes going off the first and 10th tees in the final round with heavy rain in the forecast. Without delays, the tournament will finish about four hours earlier than normal.

Spieth rolled in another eagle at the par-five 18th, this time a shorter, bending putt from the fringe behind the hole. This time it just trimmed his deficit after Spieth’s 55-footer up a hill that splits the green gave him a share of the first-round lead.

The roar was the same, though, from the biggest gallery on the new course of his hometown event, the TCP Craig Ranch in Mckinney, about 50 kilometres north of Dallas. It’s the third venue in the past four Nelsons.

‘‘Once it got on the green, it looked good,’’ Spieth said. ‘‘Started the putter raise, and I wasn’t positive it was going in because the angle it was coming in at. I wanted to do the no look to the crowd, but, I mean, it was a really cool moment.’’

Seamus Power holed out on a 35-foot bunker shot on the parfour 15th for a 67 and was tied with 2017 US Amateur winner Doc Redman at 16-under. Redman shot 69.

Scott Stallings and Harris English shot matching 63s after making the cut on the number at six-under, a record low for the Nelson on a course that hosted Korn Ferry Tour Championships but looks overmatched against some of the game’s best.

Burns, trying to become first player since Camilo Villegas in 2008 to get his first two PGA Tour victories in consecutive events, had his first bogey of the tournament on No 1 and another on the sixth hole. He missed an eagle by inches on 18.

Lee birdied four of his last seven holes and the South

Korean briefly shared the lead with Burns before the Louisiana native tapped in for birdie on the final hole.

Spieth’s eagle was a boost after back-to-back bogeys stalled the momentum of six birdies over a nine-hole stretch for the threetime major winner who will be looking for the career grand slam next week.

Jon Rahm, the highest-ranked player in field at No 3, is 11-under after a 68.