One of the more fascinating things about this second round—one we were almost fortunate enough to get four 2–2 matchups out of—is the fact that legendary Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has some sort of tie to every head coach left in the dance.
Some are more obvious and talked about constantly. But a few are more subtle, or ones you’d only know about if you’ve read certain backstories throughout Popovich’s time in the league. So let’s run through them.
Mike Budenholzer
Bud was a video coordinator in San Antonio before Popovich arriving as the Spurs’ coach, but then became an assistant coach upon Popovich taking over in 1996.