Get used to it. Gregg Popovich will be back.

He will be back because Peter Holt owes him $17 million in guaranteed contracts. Because Tim Duncan likes playing for him. And because the Spurs remarkably won 58 games while remodeling the lineup on the run.

Another way of putting it: Popovich deserves to be back.

And then came Tuesday night, when the Spurs hung again, led again, still believing in something when others might not have, before losing to the two-time defending champs.

Think about it. If Popovich could survive last year's embarrassing sweep against the Lakers, wouldn't he naturally survive this?

Fans will moan with that realization. As it has been from the first day he took over for Bob Hill, wasn't Popovich the boob who screws up everything?