Last night the Mavs hosted a struggling Spurs squad. It was game 30 of an 82 game schedule and although it was a nationally televised game, I cannot imagine many people outside the state of Texas watched.
For the most part, it was a lazy, messy game that lacked rhythm, with both teams shooting poorly for long stretches. It was also clear early on that not only were the Mavericks coming off Holiday, but they were working to reintegrate Luka, who had essentially missed the last five games with a sprained ankle. And just when it felt like the Mavericks had found their legs, going up by 13 late in the third, the Spurs came roaring back to keep the game close. Ultimately though, the Mavs were able to finish the Spurs off 102-98.
Whether you’re a Mavs or Spurs fan, the game could be described in one word; yawn. Really, the only highlight of the game came from this pass by Seth Curry:
But although the game was nothing to write home about, history is history and this is an AWESOME stat to finally be able to carve into the history books.
It honestly shouldn’t come as a surprise either that it was made with the Mavs and Spurs considering both head coaches, Rick Carlisle and Greg Popovich, are two of the more forward thinking coaches in all of professional sports.
In 2014, Pop hired Becky Hammon, making her NBA’s first full-time female coach and the first in any of the four major U.S. professional leagues. Fast forward to today and there are now eight women in on-court coaching roles this upcoming NBA season, with 18 more holding basketball operations positions in front offices and six women hold controlling or significant ownership stakes in teams.
It appears to be only a matter of time until a woman is hired as a head coach in the NBA. In 2017, Commissioner Adam Silver told ESPN there “definitely will be” a woman in the lead position, and he partially placed the onus on himself to “ensure that it happens sooner rather than later.” Hammon actually interviewed for the Milwaukee Bucks’ head coaching job in May 2018, and now is in her sixth year as one of the top San Antonio Spurs assistants as Pop inches closer to retirement.
“I have a very high expectation that it will happen — it’s not an expectation. I know it will happen at some point,” said Oris Stuart, the NBA’s executive vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer. “There are women who have the ability and the interest to contribute to this game at the highest level. If that ability is there, it’s going to be recognized, and if that interest is there, it’s going to be responded to.”
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