The San Antonio Spurs' Gregg Popovich is the recipient of the Red Auerbach Trophy as the 2013-14 NBA Coach of the Year, the NBA announced. Popovich's Spurs posted the league's best record at 62-20 (.756), which provides them with homecourt advantage throughout the postseason.

Popovich, who wins his second NBA Coach of the Year award in the past three seasons and third of his career, joins Don Nelson and Pat Riley as the only coaches to receive the honor three times. He totaled 380 points, including 59 first-place votes, from a panel of 124 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Coaches were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote. The award voting was tabulated by the independent accounting firm of Ernst & Young LLP.

The Spurs were the only team to record 30-plus wins both at home (32-9, .780) and on the road (30-11, .732), and their 38-14 record against conference opponents tied for the best mark in the league (Indiana Pacers). San Antonio led the NBA in points per game differential at +7.8, having averaged 105.4 ppg while giving up just 97.6 ppg.

2013-14 marked the 15th consecutive season that Popovich's Spurs posted 50 or more wins, and the fourth time in that span that the team tallied 60-plus victories. San Antonio recorded a 19-game winning streak - tied for fifth-longest in NBA history - between Feb. 26-April 2.

Popovich presided over a balanced roster which featured no player who averaged 20-plus points, nor 30-plus minutes, with Tony Parker's 16.7 ppg and 29.4 mpg leading both categories. He ended the 2013-14 campaign with 967 regular season wins, good for ninth on the all-time list.

The Coach of the Year Award is named after legendary coach and Hall of Famer Red Auerbach who guided the Celtics to nine NBA Championships. In 1996, Auerbach was honored as one of the Top 10 Coaches in NBA History as the NBA celebrated its 50th anniversary.

THIS DAY IN THE NBA

April 23, 1950 The Minneapolis Lakers became the first team to win back-to-back NBA titles when they defeated the Syracuse Nationals 110-95 to win the series four games to two.

April 23, 1969 Jerry West of Los Angeles scored 53 points as the Lakers edged Boston 120-118 in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, a series won by the Celtics in seven games. The 53 points by West ranked as the highest-scoring game by a guard in NBA Finals history, before Chicago’s Michael Jordan scored 55 points against Phoenix in Game 4 of the 1993 Finals, a 111-105 Bulls win over the Suns.

April 23, 1989 Alex English of the Denver Nuggets finished the 1988-89 season with 2,175 points, giving him 2,000 or more points for a then record eight consecutive seasons. Karl Malone later posted 11 consecutive 2,000-point seasons.

April 23, 1989 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played in the final game of his NBA-record 1,560-game career, as the Lakers downed Seattle, 121-117. Abdul-Jabbar finished his career with an NBA record 38,387 points.

April 23, 1995 After handing out eight assists in Utah’s 103-97 road win at Houston, John Stockton captured his eighth straight NBA assist title--tying Bob Cousy’s NBA record--after dishing off for 1,011 assists in 82 games for a 12.3 apg average. Stockton broke the tie by leading the NBA in assists for a record ninth straight season in 1995-96.

April 23, 1995 Steve Kerr of Chicago set the record for the highest three-point field goal percentage in a season at .524.

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