During the regular season, the Spurs boasted the league’s third-best winning percentage in crunch time, going 26-12 in games decided by five points or less in the last five minutes. It was a different story in the postseason, with San Antonio dropping to just 3-7 in those situations — or dead last among playoff teams.
The Spurs’ struggles in the clutch were on full display in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, where questionable shot selection and costly miscues fueled a historic 29-point comeback by the Knicks. After the epic collapse, head coach Mitch Johnson looked ahead to a pivotal Game 5.
“That’s the only game that matters,” Johnson told reporters. “By no means am I not acknowledging the Knicks and what they’ve done. Give them credit for playing good basketball. But we feel like we’ve decided the outcome of all four games.”
Going into Game 5, the Spurs maintained a lead for more than 69% of total minutes played in the Finals, but that only translated to a single win. San Antonio’s dismal crunch-time offensive rating and lack of late-game execution served as glaring reminders of the team’s limited playoff experience.
It was more of the same on Saturday night at the Frost Bank Center, when the Spurs succumbed to the Knicks in another tight loss.
“There’s a lot that goes into it,” Johnson told reporters after the game. “We didn’t deserve to win the games. There’s a lot of levels of execution. There can be rebounding. There can be end-of-game details. There can be starting the game where you get the lead and then you don’t sustain that. We weren’t ready to win an NBA championship. The better team won. We did a lot of good things, and we didn’t finish the job.”
At an average age of 25, the Spurs were the youngest team to reach the Finals since the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers. Fueled by stellar play from Victor Wembanyama, the ascendance of Stephon Castle and the emergence of Dylan Harper, San Antonio exceeded all expectations this season before running into a gritty and determined Knicks squad. Despite the setback, the future looks bright for the Spurs.
“I’m not satisfied with not winning,” Wembanyama told reporters. “This is the biggest lesson of my life. As a team, there’s no better experience than what we just lived.”
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