Sean Sweeney has been considered for several head coaching vacancies, so it was no surprise to the Spurs when news broke Friday that their top assistant was finalizing a deal with the Magic, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. Speaking to the media before tonight’s Game 7 at Oklahoma City, San Antonio head coach Mitch Johnson expressed support for Sweeney in his new endeavor.
“Thrilled for Sean. He deserves it,” Johnson said. “He’s had many opportunities of potentially becoming a head coach and so it was a matter of when, not if, even when I reached out to him to speak with him for the first time.”
Johnson hired Sweeney last summer to run the defense, and the team’s improvement on that end of the court has been significant. Sweeney has relied on an aggressive scheme at the perimeter, with Defensive Player of the Year Victor Wembanyama patrolling the middle to erase any mistakes.
“Definitely happy for him,” Devin Vassell said of Sweeney. “The impact that he’s had here has been tremendous. I mean, he’s challenged everybody to be better on the defensive end. He’s holding us to a certain standard. You know, I wish him all the luck.”
There’s more on the Spurs:
- Game 7 will be a new experience for most of San Antonio’s young roster, but Johnson is confident that his team is ready to meet the challenge, relays Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link). The Spurs seized the momentum in the back-and-forth series with a 27-point win on Thursday. “I think we’ve handled it appropriately,” Johnson said of the preparation since then. “Played this team a lot this year and recently, so a lot of attention to detail, but not a whole lot of new for the most part, at least on the surface level.”
- Harrison Barnes is celebrating his 34th birthday today, and the Spurs are hoping it’s a good omen, Orsborn writes in a subscriber-only story. Research by Legion Hoops recently revealed that no NBA player has lost a Game 7 on his birthday since at least 1966. Teammates sang “Happy Birthday” to Barnes after this morning’s shootaround and talked about his importance. “Shout out to HB,” Vassell said. “It’s been great for us so far and just his wisdom and his knowledge being in so many different games, game sevens, championship games, whatever the case may be. He’s been able to just kind of calm us down and just tell us kind of what to expect. It’s unexpected what’s going to happen in this game, but he’s kind of just giving us guidance in what to expect and what to feel during these games.“
- Even though the series has reached a seventh game, it hasn’t featured many memorable moments since the overtime thriller in the opener. Eric Koreen of The Athletic says that’s relatively common in playoff history, but adds that the matchup could still be remembered as legendary if it has an exciting conclusion.