Gregg Popovich passed Pat Riley and moved into fourth place in all-time coaching victories in NBA history following the San Antonio Spurs 111-86 win over the Phoenix Suns. 

Popovich now has 1,211 coaching wins in his career, with a .686 win percentage in the regular season and a .603 percentage in the playoffs. 

He trails Jerry Sloan by 10 wins for third place on the list. 

Gregg Popovich recently lamented the current aesthetics in the NBA.

While the San Antonio Spurs played a grinding and boring style during much of Popovich's tenure, they played a beautiful form of the game when they went to two straight Finals.

"There's no basketball anymore, there's no beauty in it," he said.

Popovich seemed to suggest the rise of the three-pointer as a culprit.

"Now you look at a stat sheet after a game and the first thing you look at is the 3s. If you made 3s and the other team didn't, you win. You don't even look at the rebounds or the turnovers or how much transition D was involved. You don't even care.

"These days there's such an emphasis on the 3 because it's proven to be analytically correct."

DeMar DeRozan credits Gregg Popovich for his recent 36-point outburst against the Portland Trail Blazers.

DeRozan says Popovich has been "preaching" to him to shoot with "no guilt" as he scored 15 straight points in the third quarter after starting the game shooting 3 of 12 from the field.

DeRozan is averaging 24.3 points on 48.2% shooting this season, including a career high 6 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game.

"He's been around a long time. He's very confident, and he knows what he can do," said Popovich. "That's not going to bother him if he misses a few shots. Scorers shouldn't have a conscience."