Hammon, First Female Coach Wins NBA Summer Title

Fri, Jul 24, 2015
By publisher
1 MIN READ

Sports Briefs

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BECKY Hammon has emerged as the first female head coach in the NBA summer league history to win a title. Hammond’s San Antonio Spurs beat Phoenix Suns 93-90 in the final. Spurs won six straight games to win the off-season mini-league.

Hammon, 38, had become the NBA’s first female full-time assistant coach last year and then took charge of the Spurs for the Las Vegas tournament.

She said of her team: “They listened and they played really hard for me. They were tired but fought through.”

Hammon is a former professional basketball player who played in America, Spain and Russia and who played internationally for both the United States and Russia after gaining Russian citizenship.

Jonathan Simmons, 25, who scored 23 points to take the Most Valuable Player Award, said of the coach: “She’s a real cool coach. She’s a player coach. That’s something we all like.”

The Las Vegas competition is one of three summer leagues run by the NBA with clubs often using young players and trialists to identify potential future talent.

— Aug 3, 2015 @ 01:00 GMT

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