Photo Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
The San Antonio Spurs Set A New NBA Record
When this season ends, the San Antonio will have made the playoffs for the 20th straight season. Well that is not a record, but the teams ahead of the Spurs, aren’t eligible to be named in one sentence with these Spurs teams. The record holding 76ers played in an era with far fewer teams, and the ‘modern-era’ Blazers and Jazz, may have held longer streaks, but neither managed to win a title.
This past Saturday, the San Antonio Spurs beat the New York Knicks and made NBA history.
We have now beaten every team in the @nba this season. #GoSpursGo
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) March 26, 2017
The Knick were the last team in the league the Spurs hadn’t beaten this season. But the Spurs have now beaten every single team in the NBA for the third consecutive year.
The Spurs defeated the Knicks, 106–98. It was San Antonio’s first victory over New York this season, and it made the Spurs the first team in NBA history to defeat every opposing NBA team in each of three consecutive seasons since the league reached its current size. The Spurs defeated 29 different opponents; the last team to defeat every other opponent in three consecutive seasons was Philadelphia. The 76ers had a seven-season streak from 1974-75 through 1980-81 when the league ranged in size from 18 to 23 teams.
The Popovich era in San Antonio is amazing. No matter what happens, or who retires, they always seem to pull the right strings to have a very competitive team once the season starts. Great scouting, great drafting, great trades and great free-agent pickups. They will be in for a lot more records if the front office and coaching team stays together.
