The San Antonio Spurs struggled to start the season this year after trading away Kawhi Leonard. When that move came, along with the departures of Manu Ginobli and Tony Parker, many people on the outside figured it meant the end of the Spurs’ historic playoff run. However, Gregg Popovich has his team playing their best basketball of the season down the stretch as they currently ride a nine-game winning streak.

One of the keys to this dominant run has certainly been Popovich, and Paul believes his coaching ability is absolutely the reason for their impressive play of late.

“They’ve been a well-oiled machine for over 20-something years, and (Popovich) is well-respected and the Spurs are peaking at the right time,” Pierce said, “just when you think (Popovich) was going to be falling off. No sir.”