What Went Wrong for the San Antonio Spurs in the 2026 NBA Finals
Last night, a remarkable season came to a very sour ending for the San Antonio Spurs. Ahead of schedule for some, already a formidable force for others, Mitch Johnson’s group has turned heads one way or another. Their dream run began against the Trail Blazers, continued against the Timberwolves, and went through the defending champions Thunder before reaching its ultimate step. However, they were quickly dispatched by the Knicks in five games, returning New York to the glory land for the first time since 1973. While the champions will ride off into the offseason sunset, the defeated have some serious self-reflections to do. The series felt closer than a 4-1 victory for the eventual champions, the Knicks, so how did San Antonio come up short of making this a competitive series?
The first and most obvious factor is inexperience. The Spurs lost two or arguably three games where a lack of composure played a tremendous factor in the result. In Game Two, Victor Wembanyama had a chance to win the game in the last possession but rimmed out a midrange shot that’s well within his repertoire. While the historic 29-point collapse of Game Four is self-explanatory, it’s still inexcusable, especially considering that New York overturned this advantage in just under 22 minutes. Game Five followed a similar storyline to Game Four, as San Antonio controlled most of the game, though they didn’t get as comfortable of a lead as they enjoyed in their last loss. However, when the fourth quarter came, the Spurs lacked the shot-making to capitalize on an otherwise good performance.
This perfectly segways to the next point, which is not stepping up during clutch time. In multiple games, when New York went on a small run to trim a Spurs lead in the fourth, San Antonio seemingly lost the ability to score. They lacked consistent resistance to pressure, and most of that was due to continuous stretches of not scoring. This wasn’t just evident on the stat sheet, but also on the court. Johnson’s guys looked uncomfortable, and either took unconventional shots or missed chances they had capitalized on during the entire game.
Lastly, the 2014 NBA Champions failed to adequately deal with Jalen Brunson. The guard from Villanova is no stranger to scoring in bunches, as he ranked in the top 10 in the regular season for most points per game. The 2025 Clutch Player of the Year is also known for rising to any and every occasion, so asking any team to neutralize him is nearly impossible. However, where San Antonio greatly struggled is to take the ball out of his hands. I would’ve expected to see harder blitzes on screens or throwing Brunson different looks to generate turnovers. The team from Texas chose instead to play him in an honest, one-versus-one defense, resulting to him walking into Frost Bank Arena and closing the series out by himself with 45 points. The Spurs will be a problem for the league and surely learn from this experience, but the way this series went has an ‘unfinished business’ vibe to it.
