In a recent Sports Illustrated NBA player's poll, San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich garnered 3% of votes from the 138 NBA players who voted for the most annoying coach during games:

WHICH COACH IS MOST ANNOYING DURING GAMES?

Stan Van Gundy, Magic 65%

Phil Jackson, Lakers 7%

Scott Skiles, Bucks 7%

Avery Johnson, Nets 4%

Gregg Popovich, Spurs 3%

Based off the poll, that's a huge drop off from Van Gundy to Popovich. Makes you wonder just what makes Van Gundy so annoying during games to receive that many votes.

I was a bit shocked to see Popovich on this list considering I hear he gets along with many NBA players but like they say, can't win them all.

I'm sure Spurs fans are glad to see Lakers' Phil Jackson is seen as more annoying than Popovich.
 
What about you Spurs fans? Can you think of any other NBA coaches who are annoying during games?

Last season the San Antonio Spurs added Richard Jefferson to the team and much to the dismay of many, he did not pan out as expected.

After a turbulent first season, he re-signed with the Spurs and this past off-season worked with Spurs' coach Gregg Popovich to refine his game and better understand the Spurs' system.

"My training this summer, it wasn't that I didn't workout summers before, it was just I knew what I needed to go in and work on to help this team and to be more efficient," said Jefferson when I spoke to him earlier this season.

With the added work over the summer, things seemed to have paid off for Jefferson and the Spurs when the season started. The Spurs were running-and-gunning more, and he was playing with more aggression, hitting his shots - especially three-point shots - and many felt he was turning into the player the Spurs hoped he be. 

At one point November, he was averaging 29.8 minutes, shooting 65.9% FG, and 20 points per game. He finally looked comfortable in the Spurs' system.

However, as the season has progressed, his numbers have dropped and Spurs fans wonder if Jefferson is regressing into the player he was during his first season with San Antonio or if the Spurs should be trying to establish him more often in the offense.

Check out his stats since the season began:

This season he is averaging 11.3 points, 3.9 rebounds and shooting 48% from the field including 43% from the three-point line but as the chart above shows, his point production is on the decline.

Look at the amount of shots he was taking since the beginning of the season:

The first time these two teams met, the San Antonio Spurs (54-13) beat the Miami Heat (46-21) at the AT&T Center in San Antonio by 30 points.

This time, the Heat returned the favor, beating the league leading Spurs 110-80 at the American Airlines Arena in Miami.

What are the numbers that stood out in this Spurs' loss? Let's find out!

95.8 - The Heat were nearly perfect from the line, making 23-of-24 (95.8%) free throw attempts. The Spurs on the other hand, struggled with their foul shots connecting on just 12-of-19 (63.2%) free throws. 

80 - Miami Heat's "Big Three" combined for 80 points equaling the Spurs' point total as a team.

53.8 - Miami shot well from the floor, making 42-of-78 (53.8%) field goal attempts while holding the Spurs to just 31-of-81 (38.3%) field goal shooting.

47 - The Heat dominated the boards, outrebounding the Spurs 47-33.

46 - Miami pound it on the inside, outscoring San Antonio 46-34 on inside points.

30 - Chris Bosh had a game-high 30 points and 12 rebounds for the Heat. Eleven days after being beaten by the Spurs by 30 points, the Heat returned the favor by winning with a 30 point margin.

• NBA.com spoke with San Antonio Spurs' Manu Ginobili and here is what he had to say on the Miami Heat, the lack of attention the Spurs receive and more.

Ginobili on the hype the Heat receives:

"So this was kind of a big deal -- LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh getting together and going to South Beach. It's a very big deal and it draws attention. It's understandable. But we really don't care."

"At least, as I speak for myself, I really don't care about the hype with Miami. It does not bother me. I think it's good for the league that a team like that gets together -- that young and talented -- and people are talking about the NBA. It's fine. People turn on the TV to see the Heat and, you know, they do see the other teams too."

Ginobili on the lack of media attention on the Spurs:

"I'm not a mass media consumer, so I'm not sure what people say about us," Ginobili said with a shrug. "But at this point we are six games ahead of the second-best team in the standings, so we are hardly under the radar. We were like that at the beginning, maybe the first 30 to 40 games. Nobody was sure if we could keep it up, if they could believe in us.

"But I think that now everybody knows who we are and the chances we have or we don't have. And then again, I don't think anybody inside the team really cares. We are not a team trying to draw attention and have people talk about us and asking for extra interviews and stuff. Miami can have all that."

• RedsArmy.com keeps the Spurs on the Boston Celtics' radar as the NBA playoffs near.

• With March Madness underway, MassLive.com says the Texas A&M Aggies are like the Spurs:

"They are somewhat like the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA and won't wow anyone on their way to victory." The Aggies face Florida State in the first round, with a potential second-round matchup against 2-seed Notre Dame."

• Express News Tim Griffin spoke on the Spurs upcoming games.

• George Hill visited the Spurs youth basketball league.

• Sean Elliott and Bill Land in "Scatter Shooting."

• Pounding the Rock shares photos of Tony Parker's shiny shoes.

• Here is how you can enter for a chance to score some free tickets to the upcoming Spurs-Portland Trail Blazers game on March 28 at the AT&T Center:

1. Follow @TiqFeed_Texas on Twitter.

2. Once you've followed, send out a tweet that says "Follow @TiqFeed_Texas" and include your favorite live Texas sports moment, followed by the hashtag #LoneStarTiqs for chance to win free Spurs tickets.

3. One person who tweets that out will win a free pair of tickets to the March 28 Spurs-Trail Blazers game.

Prior to tonight's tip-off between the San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat, the Spurs announced Tony Parker has been named the Western Conference Player of the Week for the week of March 7-13.

In that week, Parker helped the Spurs maintain their league-leading record (54-12) and the Spurs went 3-0. He also led the Spurs in scoring with 23.7 points last week.

Breakdown of what Parker did last week:

March 9 vs. Detroit: Scored 23 points to go along with 7 assists and 4 steals in a 111-104 win over the Pistons.

March 11 vs. Sacramento: Tallied 27 points and 6 assists in a 108-103 win over the Kings.

March 12 @ Houston: Posted 21 points to go along with 6 assists and 3 rebounds in a 115-107 victory over the Rockets.

This is the second time this season Parker has received this honor. He last received the honor for the week of December 13-19, 2010.

Miami Heat's Dwayne Wade was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week.

The San Antonio Spurs (54-12) will be looking to sweep the season series face the Miami Heat (45-21) for the last time this regular season in Miami.

Currently, San Antonio has a four-game winning streak against Miami including a two-game sweep last season. The last time these two teams met, it was a 125-95 win for the Spurs over the Heat which left many questioning if Miami has what it takes to beat the elite teams in the NBA. In that game, eight Spurs scored in double figures, led by Manu Ginobili with 20 points, Matt Bonner with 18 points (6-7 3FG) and Tim Duncan posted 11 points and 14 rebounds.

Since then, Miami was able to beat the Los Angeles Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies but a win tonight against the Spurs would speak volumes for Miami.

Speaking of the Heat loss in San Antonio, Chris Bosh hasn't forgotten about that:

"We want to redeem ourselves,'' Chris Bosh said.

"They beat the crap out of us,'' Bosh said. "And it was on (national) TV. Everyone saw it. My friends starting asking me what happened and they don't even watch basketball.

To discuss tonight's matchup, I once again turn to friend of Project Spurs, Surya Fernandez of Hot Hot Hoops. The best Heat blog on the Internet. In this Q&A, Surya talks about the Heat's crying incident, the Heat versus elite NBA teams, the Spurs huge win against the Heat in San Antonio and more.

Jeff: You know I got to ask this, the whole Miami Heat players crying fiasco. Why in the world would Spoelstra say that to the media? What's your take?

Surya: I have no idea why Spoelstra would say that. He's usually so polished with the media so it was very surprising to hear that sitting right in front of him. He said a couple of players were crying, not the whole team, but there's no explanation as to why he couldn't simply explain that they were very upset over the game and leave it at that.

The Heat finally beat an elite NBA team, the Lakers. What did they do differently in that game versus other games against other elite teams?

Seems the San Antonio Spurs did not keep guard/forward Othyus Jeffers after his 10-day contract was over.

Jeffers is back with the Iowa Energy of the D-League and played yesterday for the Energy in a win over the Erie Bayhawks:

And Othyus Jeffers, just back from a 10-day callup to the San Antonio Spurs, made the next two baskets to cement the win, the second on a rim-rattling dunk after Erie inexplicably left him unguarded. He finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds. (desmoinesregister.com)

To be boastful is to talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one’s achievements, possessions and abilities. 

Enter last summer: Miami Heat guard Dwayne Wade, forward LeBron James and San Antonio Spurs forward Tiago Splitter.

Wade: “(We are) Arguably the best trio to ever play the game of basketball.”

James: “We gonna make the world know that the Heat is back!”

James: “We gonna challenge each other in practice. Once the game starts, oh man, it’s gonna be easy.”

Splitter: “I don’t want to pass this moment never.”

Is it ok to be boastful? The answer just depends on the context you use it in. In Wade and James’ case, they were boasting last summer about joining forces on the Miami Heat (45-21) and gushing about how they would win multiple championships together.

Tiago Splitter was being boastful about signing with the San Antonio Spurs (54-12).

What’s the difference? You have two players claiming to be part of the best “trio” ever, they may need to have a conversation with: Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman or any of the Lakers or Celtics historic “trios”.

On the other side you have one player excited to be part of a winning organization.

The Award The Heat Gave Themselves

The Miami Heat came into the 2010-2011 season by unanimously being handed the “Most Hated Team” award even before the season began.

LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh flirted with Chicago, New York, New Jersey, Houston, Dallas, and Los Angeles (Clippers). They held Cleveland and Toronto hostage. The result, a free agent decision for all three to play in Miami, Florida.

The after effects were abysmal for the Raptors (fifth worst team in the NBA today) and Cavaliers (worst team in the NBA today).

The “Big 3” or “Heatles” as James coined them, began the season with high hopes as they went 25-9 from October to December.

Meanwhile, across the Gulf of Mexico, there was a team in Texas that added three new pieces as well. However, there was no giant ‘Welcome Rally’ for a European league MVP named Tiago Splitter, a young scorer from Stillwater named James Anderson and an unknown American rookie from over seas named Gary Neal.

• Houston Rockets head coach Rick Adelman say San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich is the Coach of the Year:

"Right now, they're still the best team in the league. They're so efficient. They played together so long, especially (Tony) Parker and (Manu) Ginobili.

"Pop has those guys playing well. He has his role players playing well off the bench. They shoot the 3s well. They just take advantage of what you give them." (chron.com)

• Tomorrow night the Spurs will face the Miami Heat who will be without center Zydrunas Ilgauskas after being released from a Miami hospital Sunday following treatment for a foot infection. (espn.com)

• The Spurs will face the Miami Heat tomorrow for the last time in the regular season and Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra says fatigue and emotions were causes for the Spurs annihilation of his team in the first meeting in San Antonio:

"That was an emotionally fatiguing day for us after coming off the Orlando game," Spoelstra said. "It's not an excuse. Our guys were ready and (the Spurs) played extremely well. They moved us around as much as any team has." (southflorida.sun-sentinel.com)

• Spoelstra also went on to praise the Spurs:

"Every year, they're there and they're the epitome of a championship franchise," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We've always had the ultimate respect for them and what they've been able to accomplish. This year, it's probably little bit of a surprise how well and how efficient they've played … They've already been tested through adversity. They've been through playoff battles. They've been through all the ups and downs." (southflorida.sun-sentinel.com)

• Heat's Dwayne Wade says the Spurs are not boring:

"San Antonio is not perceived to be sexy, they're perceived to be boring. Teams don't look at it as a bigger game, but as a player you respect it."

Wade pointed out there is nothing vanilla about the how the Spurs play. They can easily turn into an exciting team when guards Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili dictate a fast pace.

"Their style isn't boring," Wade said. "…They get it, they go." (southflorida.sun-sentinel.com)

• With the NBA playoffs nearing, RedsArmy.com is keeping an eye on the Spurs and other teams who are expected to make the post-season.

• Express News' Tim Griffin shares some notes from the Spurs-Rockets game.

Hit the jump to read how you can win free ticket to the Spurs-Portland Trail Blazers game in San Antonio, more from tomorrow's Spurs-Heat game, Spurs-Dallas Mavericks, and more

Tomorrow night the San Antonio Spurs will visit Miami to take on the Heat in the last regular season meeting between these to teams.

In the first meeting in San Antonio, the Spurs left the Heat in shambles, beating them by 30 points on national TV. Now the Heat will look to return the favor and Chris Bosh hasn't forgotten what the Spurs did to the Heat in San Antonio:

"We want to redeem ourselves,'' Chris Bosh said.

"They beat the crap out of us,'' Bosh said. "And it was on (national) TV. Everyone saw it. My friends starting asking me what happened and they don't even watch basketball.

"They're a good team. They're the best in the league (record-wise). That can be another step for us. Like I said, the fact that they annihilated us last time, you've got to keep that in the back of your mind." (sun-sentinel)

The Heat are coming off a big win over the Memphis Grizzlies 118-85, including a win over the Los Angeles Lakers last week. The Spurs are coming off wins against the Sacramento Kings and Houston Rockets.

Tomorrow's contest should be much closer between the Spurs and Heat unlike their first meeting. Should be a great game for all NBA fans.