Hammon makes history in Las Vegas Summer League debut

Tim Reynolds, Associated Press

Saturday, July 11, 2015 | 4:02 p.m.

Every few minutes, Becky Hammon would check some notes and then stuff the list back into her hip pocket. She huddled with her assistant coaches while scribbling up plays that she would show her team during timeouts. She paced the sidelines at times, maybe burning off a bit of nervous energy.

In other words, she coached.

And while it might have seemed normal, it was different.

Hammon made another piece of history Saturday, becoming the first woman to lead a team in an NBA summer league game. Hammon and the San Antonio Spurs lost 78-73 to the New York Knicks in the Las Vegas league debut for both squads.

Other women have coached in summer league — Lindsey Harding, a former No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft, is a guest on Toronto's staff in Las Vegas this year — but no female had been actually in charge of a roster.

That is, until now.

Hammon is going into her second year as an assistant for the Spurs. The former WNBA star spent 16 seasons playing for New York and San Antonio, so it seemed fitting that her summer-coaching debut was against the Knicks.

Things didn't always go as Hammon would have wanted. But she showed plenty of coaching savvy.

She subbed out all five of her starters after 4 minutes, with the Spurs already down 13-2 — and she was fairly animated on the sideline while explaining how she wanted certain situations handled at that point. San Antonio got up by nine in the fourth, but the Knicks answered with a 16-0 run capped by a wild jumper from rookie Kristaps Porzingis.

Hammon wasn't fazed. She had two timeouts in the bank and used one with about 25 seconds left with her team down by three — then used the other with 16 seconds remaining when the first play she had drawn up for that situation fell apart. Hammon briskly moved to half-court, got a ref's attention and called her final timeout.

It almost worked out. Jarrell Eddie got an open 3-point try from the right corner, but it rimmed out and the Knicks held on from there. Moments later, Hammon led the Spurs in the handshake line, getting plenty of smiles and nods from the Knicks.

Hammon said coming into summer league that she was thankful for the opportunity that Spurs coach Gregg Popovich — her full-time boss, having added her to San Antonio's staff as an assistant last year — gave her by letting her lead the Vegas team.

She seemed as if she was enjoying the moment pregame. Down on the far end from the Spurs bench, Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman — a trailblazer in her own right as the first female head coach in the NBA Development League — blew her kisses and bowed, which earned her a smile and wave back from Hammon. She waved at a couple other well-wishers pregame, chatting with members of the Spurs staff.

Other than the black warmup pants (everyone else was in shorts) and the ponytail, Hammon was just like everyone else. And that's exactly the way she wanted it.