In the midst of a 125-104 loss on the Portland Trail Blazers, the San Antonio Spurs reached several milestones, both for individual players and as a team.
We all know that Gregg Popovich is the most winning coach of all time in NBA history (regular and postseason combined) and that he is third in regular season wins, behind Don Nelson and Lenny Wilkins, but in Martin Luther King Jr. Day Pop overtook Pat Riley for eighth of all time in the trained games category.
Patty Mills hit his 930th 3-point basket as a member of the San Antonio Spurs, making him the NBA’s all-time leader by three off a team bench.
Most of the three points made in NBA history off the bench for a team:
1. PATTY MILLS (spurs) – 930
2. Manu Ginobili (spurs) – 929
3. Dell Curry (Hornets) – 800
4. JR Smith (Nuggets) – 652
5. Jason Terry (Mavericks) – 611– Jordan Howenstine (@AirlessJordan) January 18, 2021
Coincidentally, it was Manu Ginobili of the Spurs who led until Monday.
Patty Mills is now the NBA’s all-time leader in three points made from the bench for a team.
Mills overtakes former teammate Manu Ginobili with his 930th three.
– Jordan Howenstine (@AirlessJordan) January 18, 2021
Speaking of shooting beyond the hoop, Rudy Gay made his thousandth three-point career shot during a performance in the fourth period.
Rudy Gay has just reached his thousandth three-point career.
Since Gay was chosen in 2006, he and LeBron James are the only players with 1,000 trios, 16,000 points, 5,000 rebounds and 1,000 steals.
– Jordan Howenstine (@AirlessJordan) January 18, 2021
During that round of three, Rudy also managed to pass Vinny Del Negro on the Spurs franchise’s three-point shooting list.
The older statesmen (Mills, Gay, LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan) accomplished a feat that had not been contested in more than a decade:
The first time Spurs had four players scoring more than 20 points in a game since February 3, 2010.
George Hill (23)
Tim Duncan (22)
DeJuan Blair (20)
Manu Ginobili (20)– Jordan Howenstine (@AirlessJordan) January 18, 2021
Aldridge scored 22, Mills and Gay had 21 each, and DeRozan drew with 20 after hitting a few free throws. If you take their age into account – everyone over 30 – you have to go back even further:
The last time an NBA team had four players over the age of 30 scored at least 20 in the same game: Houston Rockets at Clippers, 2/16/98.
These four: Hakeem, Barkley, Drexler and the great Kevin Willis.
– Jeff McDonald (@JMcDonald_SAEN) January 18, 2021
And finally, you have to go even further, until 1996, to discover the last time the Spurs had multiple players with more than 10 assists, as DeRozan and Dejounte Murray contributed 11 apieace in Portland:
Today is the first time that Spurs has had multiple players with more than 10 assists in a game since 1996.
January 18, 2021:
DeMar DeRozan – 11
Dejounte Murray – 11November 13, 1996:
Avery Johnson – 10
Sean Elliott – 11– Jordan Howenstine (@AirlessJordan) January 18, 2021
But don’t leave the Portland Trail Blazers out of a monumental game. Damian Lillard passed Kobe Bryant for the seventeenth place ever on the three-point scoring list. He will pass Chauncey Billups very soon too.
Remember, they are just veterans. Wait until the young people enter that record taking it.