MIAMI – The postgame routine between San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich and Miami’s Erik Spoelstra is almost always the same.
A handshake or embrace near midcourt at the final buzzer. They exchange a few words. They laugh. And then the coaches head off in opposite directions. “Respect,” Popovich said. “Class,” Spoelstra said.
It has been this way for a while now, and was again Wednesday when they went head-to-head for the 37th time. The postgame meeting tradition goes back to at least the 2013 NBA Finals, a seven-game series that the Spurs felt they let get away — Ray Allen's game-tying 3-pointer with 5.2 seconds left in regulation of Game 6 had a little to do with that.