There aren't a lot of folks out there who would argue against San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich being the NBA's best bench jockey these days. That's especially true after the Spurs routed Houston last Thursday to clinch their Western Conference semifinal series.
With both league MVP candidate Kawhi Leonard and veteran point guard Tony Parker out with injuries, the Spurs somehow won by 39 points, further cementing Pop's place at the top of his profession, just in case anyone thinks the five NBA titles he has won as a head coach aren't enough.
But even the great Popovich found himself a bit dazed and confused Sunday afternoon at the close of Game 1 of the best-of-seven Western Conference finals against the Golden State Warriors, who won 113-111. The Spurs blowing a 25-point lead for the first and only time in 317 games they'd owned such an advantage with Popovich as their coach can do that to a guy.
Think about that for a second. Until Sunday, the Spurs were 316-0 under Pop when leading by 25 points. Now they're 316-1.
So as he referred to the 3-pointer that Golden State point guard Steph Curry bagged with 1:48 to go, which tied the game and signaled the beginning of the end for the Spurs, Pop credited the wrong Warrior with that monumental shot.
"I thought the rebounding really hurt us, as is evidenced by the last - I think it was Kevin (Durant) that finally made it, or was it Klay (Thompson)?," Popovich said. "He shot the 3, then got the rebound back and shot another one, and the third one finally went down."
When one of only four coaches to win five NBA titles can't correctly remember which of the Warriors hit the biggest shot of the night, you begin to see part of the problem in beating them. The reality is that any one of Golden State's big three - Curry, Durant and Thompson (plus glue guy Draymond Green) - can knock you out on a given night, and all have on occasion.
The bigger problem for Pop and the Spurs is that the long and limber Leonard may now be out for the series after heading to the bench for good with a foot/ankle injury that happened midway through the third period. Not coincidentally, that's also when the Warriors started an 18-0 run to all but erase that 25-point San Antonio lead before outscoring the Spurs by 11 points in the fourth.
"We made too many mistakes," Popovich said. "(Golden State's) a great team. They're talented, they're well-coached. You know, they're hungry, and they made great runs."
There haven't been too many great runs by anybody in these playoffs, save the 2016 champion Cleveland Cavaliers and the Warriors, who beat the Cavs to win it all in 2015. Neither of those franchises has lost a playoff game this year.
With Leonard injured and neither the Boston Celtics nor Washington Wizards - depending on which Eastern Conference semifinalist wins tonight's Game 7 in Boston - likely to put up much of a fight against the Cavs, we could have both Golden State and Cleveland reach the NBA Finals for a record-setting third straight season.
There's also the hangover impact to consider for San Antonio going forward.
"If it wasn't bad enough, we lost our best player that was struggling already with a bad ankle," veterans Spurs wing Manu Ginobili said. "So it's hard to see the positives, even though we were 20-something up. A very bad outcome of the game."
As bad as these playoffs have been overall, with the average margin of victory more than 15 points, a Cavs-Warriors final could be epic. And much as LeBron James and Cleveland coming from 26 points down to stun Indiana in the opening round sent a message, Golden State's comeback served notice that the Warriors and Cavs are not only the best in the NBA, but the toughest to defeat.
Golden State assistant Mike Brown, who's leading the Warriors as head coach Steve Kerr recovers from surgery, wouldn't argue.
"With the team that we have, the veteran guys, their composure, and then the firepower, we know that we're always going to have a chance," Brown said.
And after coming from 25 points down to topple the Spurs, it's becoming clearer and clearer that only James and the Cavs may have a chance to beat them.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.