Popovich craves teaching time with a young team

NEW YORK (AP) Gregg Popovich had ample time for a nice New York dinner, as long as a gut-wrenching loss didn’t ruin his appetite.

Coronavirus-caused changes to the NBA schedule moved up San Antonio’s game in Brooklyn on Sunday from a night to a noon tip. That left all evening for wine and unwinding at a restaurant in one of his favorite cities before another game against the Knicks the next day.

He still loves New York, though virus rules and regulations limit how much he can enjoy it now.

”Not as much as usual, just like I’m sure New Yorkers aren’t enjoying it as much as usual,” Popovich said. ”But it’s been fun to be here. It always is.”

Just like New York is no longer the same, neither are the Spurs.

The 121-119 loss to the Nets was the kind of defeat his team racks up these days. The Spurs often pulled out games like those when Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker were on the floor, but it’s a different story when young players now stand in their place.

After five championships during a run of 22 straight postseason appearances, the Spurs could be staring at a third straight season out of the playoffs. They headed home with a 15-25 record after going 1-6 on their trip that ended with a 111-96 loss to the Knicks on Monday.

In his 26th season with the Spurs, it’s not the winning that Popovich misses. It’s the teaching and team-building time that’s so hard to find during another season altered by the virus.

”I never got too excited about the winning and I never got too down about any losses,” Popovich said. ”You’d rather win than lose, but it was never really the priority in how you lived your life or conducted yourself. We enjoyed the teaching, the camaraderie as much as anything. The airplanes, the buses, being with a great group of guys.

”This group entails, or requires, more teaching, but with COVID we’re having a hard time finding those moments to be able to do that. So I’d say frustrating is a word that applies. But being able to have a group that’s…