HISTORIC BENCHMARK
Hammon first woman to direct NBA team as S.A. unable to put clamps on champs
At the instant Becky Hammon made sports history Wednesday night, she had one singular thought in mind.
“Honestly in the moment, I’m just trying to win the game,” Hammon said.
That’s the way it is with historymakers. They seldom see their time coming.
With 3:56 remaining in the first half of the Spurs’ 121-107 defeat against the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night, Gregg Popovich had apparently seen enough — both of this game and the year 2020 in total.
Having been ejected for arguing with the officials, Popovich retired to the AT&T Center locker room and turned the coaching reins over to Hammon, his 43-year-old assistant.
It made Hammon the first female to serve as a head coach among men’s professional sports in United States history.
In her mind, in the moment, Hammon did not consider herself a pioneer, only a coach.
“I’m trying to get the guys in the right spots, trying to motivate them, trying to carry out the game plan and do what we talked about,” said Hammon, a Spurs assistant since 2014.
Against the defending champion Lakers, it would have been a tall ask for Popovich, the winningest and longest-tenured coach in the league.
Hammon kept the Spurs fighting
Upon Popovich’s ouster, Kentavious Caldwell-pope made a pair of technical free throws to put the Lakers ahead by 13.
Lebron James, Anthony Davis and the rest of the star-studded Lakers made sure the Spurs couldn’t close the gap. But neither did the Spurs completely go away.
James had 26 points and eight assists, Davis — his All-star running mate — had 20 points and eight rebounds as the Lakers did just enough to keep make sure the Spurs (2-2) lost no matter who was coaching.
Dennis Schroder added 21 points for Los Angeles, which also got 18 points and a 6-of-6 showing from 3-point range off the bench from Wesley Matthews.
The Lakers (3-2) made 14 of 26 attempts from 3-point range Wednesday, spelling doom for the Spurs.
“When they shoot the 3 like that, they’re very hard to defend,” Hammon said. “If you’re going to gamble on something, you’ve got to gamble on them missing some shots. Their stars are going to be stars.”
Playing on his 36th birthday, James made some history of his own, becoming the first player in NBA annals to reach double figures in 1,000 consecutive
games.
Second on that list all-time is Michael Jordan, who had a streak of 866 consecutive games.
Among active players, the second-longest streak begins to Houston’s James Harden, with 411 straight double-digit outings.
For James, it was another feather in a cap that has collected feathers throughout his 18 NBA seasons.
“He comes to L.A. late in in his career, looking to have a great final chapter,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. “He’s always had a strong belief in this organization and what he can build here. ... I think it’s in a great place, having won a championship in the last year and having a great team this year that has a chance to do the same.”
With Popovich in the locker room and without All-star forward Lamarcus Aldridge, who missed the game with left knee soreness, the Spurs hung as tough as they could.
Dejounte Murray scooted for a career-best 29 points to accompany seven rebounds and seven assists, while Demar Derozan shrugged off a slow start to notch 23 points.
When Derozan swished a 3-pointer with 3:11 to go in the game, it brought the Spurs within 112-104.
Davis followed with a jumper, however, and the Spurs could climb no closer from there.
“The guys responded great,” Hammon said. “We gave ourselves a chance.”
Hammon’s moment to lead the Spurs was years in the making.
She was traded to San Antonio’s WNBA franchise from the New York Liberty in 2007 and never left the Spurs Sports & Entertainment umbrella.
In August of 2014 she joined Popovich’s staff as the first fulltime female assistant in NBA annals.
Before that, Popovich admired Hammon’s command of a team on the court during her 17-season WNBA career.
“She was a leader,” Popovich said. “Everybody on the team
reacted to her. She was very confident, very competitive. She led the whole show.”
When Hammon suffered a season-ending knee injury early in the 2013 campaign, she spent her newfound downtime as an unpaid intern around the Spurs’ coaching staff.
“When I got to know her, I found out about her understanding of what wins and loses and what has to be there to make a program,” Popovich said.
Derozan said players did their best to make sure the team did not miss a beat under Hammon’s
guidance.
“Any player who knows the history of woman’s basketball knows what she meant to the sport.” Derozan said. “You don’t think twice about it. She’s one of us. When she speaks, we are all ears.”
Indeed for Popovich and the Spurs, Hammon’s hiring was never a publicity stunt.
It was never about making history. That was only a side effect.
Popovich’s conclusion about Hammon resonated again Wednesday: “She has all the tools necessary to be a heck of a coach in our league,” he said before tipoff.
That’s all Hammon has ever wanted to be.
Not a female coach. Not a history-maker.
Just a coach.
Handed the proverbial whistle and whiteboard Wednesday, that’s all Hammon tried to be.
“I try not to look at the huge picture of it, because that can get overwhelming,” Hammon said. “It’s my job to go in there and be focused for those guys and make sure I’m doing the things that will help us win.”
On a night of inadvertent history made, Hammon did her best in that regard Wednesday.
She left the AT&T Center with only one regret.
“I would have loved to have walked out of there win a win with the guys,” Hammon said.