Onward we march, to the most dispassionate record in basketball history.
Don Nelson advanced the odometer one more click Monday afternoon. He coached your Golden State Warriors to a scrambly 114-97 victory over the Chicago Bulls at Oracle Arena. In doing so, Nelson moved ever closer to becoming the NBA's all-time leader in victories.
Not that he's counting. Nelson has claimed that others care much more about the record than he does. This can't possibly be true. Nelson's ego has always been in healthier shape than the Warriors' current roster.
However, he truly is not keeping a countdown. Yet.
"Nope," Nelson said. "How many do I have left?"
Twelve, he was told. To catch Lenny Wilkens' 1,322 lifetime victories, Nelson needs 11 more wins. Twelve to break the record.
"Twelve, really?" Nelson asked. "I thought it was 17."
And are there any special plans for the big moment? Anybody he wants to be in the building for the celebration?
"Not really," Nelson said. "I have one friend in Dallas that I know wants to be there. Other than that, I haven't thought about it."
Yes. Well. Cue up the confetti and streamers.
Give credit to Nelson in one respect: He understands that this record will come with heavy baggage and asterisks. Most prominently, Nelson will achieve all those coaching wins without ever having reached the NBA finals, not even once. Over the past 17 seasons, he has won just five playoff series. And of course, we all know how Nelson has politicked his way around the league with four franchises. Evidently, this has created enough animus among Basketball Hall of Fame voters — a secret group consisting of venerable hoop insiders — to keep him from induction. So. You want to know why Nelson's regular-season victories just kind of sit there limply, admired but not worshipped? That's why. He knows it. Nelson understands one other thing, too. Out here in pro basketball's Land Of The Lost, there is no absolute guarantee that the Warriors will win enough games for Nelson to get the record before the end of this season. This could explain why the franchise hasn't yet held a meeting to decide how it should commemorate the achievement. "Cigars coming down from the ceiling?" suggested team spokesman Raymond Ridder. Power forwards would be a better idea. Because of injuries to so many of their big men, the Warriors still have their same old issues with too many perimeter guys and not enough inside muscle. And yet ... Monday was the perfect example of what Nelson does best. Handed an essentially makeshift roster with three recent Development League players, he figured out a way to use their limited skills for muck-it-out stuff that allowed the Warriors to retain ball possession. Nelson then handed the scoring duties on a platter to just three players — Monta Ellis, Corey Maggette and Stephen Curry. The three accounted for 94 of the Warriors' 114 points, as Nelson violated most sane coaching principles by allowing Ellis to take 39 shots. He made only 14 of them. But what the heck? The Warriors were ahead on the scoreboard pretty much all day. "He didn't shoot a good percentage, but down the stretch ... we just played a two-man game the whole fourth quarter and they haven't stopped it yet. So I wore that out," Nelson said. This is the fun side of Nelson, the one that can talk about why one possession might work and another doesn't. Unfortunately, we all know about the other side of Nelson, the passive-aggressive one that gets involved in the big picture and tries to manipulate people in ways that create franchise chaos and lead to ... well, to a 12-27 won-loss record in mid-January. Such a shame that winning 1,333 games will also be such an ambivalent achievement. But it's what Nelson has brought on himself. And whenever the record does happen, we surely will be in for a strange night.
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