Wednesday 6 April 2016 07:56, UK
Tim Duncan became only the third NBA player to reach 1,000 regular season victories when his San Antonio Spurs beat the Utah Jazz 88-86 on Tuesday.
The 39-year-old, who has only ever represented the Spurs since being drafted by the franchise with the first pick in 1997, joins Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1,074 wins) and Robert Parish (1,014) in reaching the milestone.
He is the only one of the trio to have secured all of his wins with one team, and also has 157 play-off victories which are counted separately by the NBA.
Duncan played nearly 24 minutes in the narrow victory, scoring three points and adding two rebounds, two assists and two blocks.
But he was almost made to wait a couple of days as the Jazz came close to stealing victory, Rodney Hood missing a potential game-winning three-pointer on the buzzer.
"That's a hell of a lot of wins," Spurs team-mate Patty Mills said.
"I can't wrap my mind around that at all. That's pretty incredible. Sacrifice, longevity, loyal, and genuine, I think. I think the word that covers all of that is professionalism.
"The way he handles and carries himself both on and off the court, I think, is what got him to this point at the moment. It's a hell of an achievement and one that I'm very fortunate enough to be able to witness and rub shoulders with [him]."
