by Owen Crisafulli
The Indiana Pacers absolutely destroyed the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night, winning by a score of 152-111 to push their record up to 4-3 on the new season. With the latest victory, head coach Rick Carlisle found himself making some more history, as this was the 900th win of his storied head coaching career. After the win, he shared a heartfelt message to the coach on the other side of the game in Gregg Popovich.
While Carlisle never worked with Popovich and the Spurs, he was a mentor to a young Carlisle as he was trying to find his way in the NBA as a coach. Carlisle said he told Popovich he was grateful for all his help along the way, and revealed how he helped improve his confidence after he missed out on landing the Pacers head coaching job back in 1997 when Larry Brown left.
“I told Pop after the game that I’m very grateful for him. He was a mentor to me before I got a head coaching job. When I was here as an assistant, I didn’t get the job after Larry (Brown) left. Pop called me up and invited me to come down to San Antonio’s training camp. … It was a big confidence-builder for me. He’s been wonderful to so many young coaches.” – Rick Carlisle, ESPN
Rich Carlisle continues to cement his place in NBA history
It’s tough to remember now given how he’s been a head coach in the NBA for over two decades, but Carlisle spent over a decade working as an assistant coach before he finally landed a head coaching gig with the Detroit Pistons. Since then, Carlisle has enjoyed a pair of stints with the Pacers sandwiched around his successful 13-year tenure with the Dallas Mavericks.
Carlisle has done quite a bit of winning during his time leading teams, and to win 900 games as an NBA coach is no small feat. With the Pacers continuing to develop in front of our eyes, they could help Carlisle continue to increase that number throughout the season, and while he likely will never catch Popovich and his 1,369 (and counting) victories, it will be interesting to see how many wins the veteran coach finishes his career with.
Originally posted on clutchpoints.com