The Spurs‘ inexperience and inability to close out games turned out to be their undoing in the NBA Finals, writes Michael C. Wright of ESPN.com. The team built double-digit leads in all five games of a series it lost 4-1, Wright notes, including a 16-point lead in Saturday’s Game 5, when San Antonio was eliminated.
Finals MVP Jalen Brunson led the Knicks to a 21-7 run to end Game 5, a consistent theme throughout the series. New York won its four games by 16 combined points, a slim yet triumphant margin.
“The margin for error is very thin,” said Wembanyama, who averaged 7.8 points in fourth quarters during the series but shot just 34.0% from the field. “Our domination stints are absolute. We absolutely dominated for most of the series. But our errors, our mistakes are punished so hard that we can’t have ups and downs like this so much, you know? The ups are OK. The downs are the reason we lost.”
Saturday’s loss started well for the Spurs, who limited the Knicks to just 37 points in the first half, their lowest total of 2025/26 (regular season or playoffs). But the Spurs only managed 42 first-half points of their own, and more importantly scored just 18 in the fourth quarter, when New York scored 29 (Brunson alone had 15 points on 4-of-6 shooting) and wound up winning by four.
“There’s a lot that goes into it,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “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.”
Wembanyama and the Spurs are determined to use the bitter taste of disappointment as a learning lesson, according to Wright.
“What I’m pissed about is, there’s probably a hundred games before we can be back in the Finals,” Wembanyama said. “I don’t know how to say it in English. But I’m going to have to hold that inside of me, slow down, wait and execute for a hundred games. It’s going to be all of it [shaping my mentality in the future]; who we are, what we’re made of, our experiences.
“This has been a hell of a year in terms of experience. I don’t think we could have learned more and gained more experience in one playoff run and in one season, and personally in 18 months. This is the biggest lesson of my life, the biggest learning moment. I can’t tell you exactly what the lesson is. But we’re learning from that. I’m learning more than any other time in my life.”
Here’s more on the Spurs:
- Devin Vassell was among the players who lamented the team’s late-game miscues in the series, per Jared Weiss of The Athletic. He also acknowledged the pain of hearing the Knicks celebrate on the Spurs’ home floor. “Obviously, in the finals, with everything being amplified, one mistake can cost you a game. I think we had a couple that cost us multiple,” Vassell said.,
- Standout rookie Dylan Harper led San Antonio with a team-high 25 points (on 10-of-19 shooting) to go along with five rebounds and four assists in Game 5, observes Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (subscriber link), though he missed three layups and a free throw late in the loss when he was running on fumes. “There was some good, some bad,” Harper said. “There were a lot of possessions I want to take back and do differently. But that’s now how the ball bounced. Just got to keep moving on.”
- While Harper was a bright spot, fellow guards De’Aaron Fox (seven points on 3-of-15 shooting) and Stephon Castle (six points on 1-of-10 shooting) struggled mightily in Game 5, Orsborn adds. “I got shots I’ve made in the past and sometimes you just don’t make them,” Fox said. “Some felt good. Back rim, in and out. It is what it is. Obviously, I wish I made those shots, but that team is physical. They force you into taking jump shots and try to keep you out of the paint. But shots just didn’t go down for me.”
- Vassell praised Harper after the game, referring to him as a “star in the making,” though he raised some eyebrows when he suggested last year’s second overall pick was upset with his playing time and role throughout 2025/26 (Twitter video link via Sam Vecenie of The Athletic).
- While San Antonio certainly seems to be on an upward trajectory, there’s no guarantee the team will be back in the NBA Finals next season, notes Kelly Iko of Yahoo Sports. “I think you have to look at it for the season it’s been,” veteran forward Harrison Barnes told Yahoo Sports. “The pain of losing in the Finals, and ultimately you have to accept that. There’s no guarantee that this group will ever have the opportunity to achieve that. Some players in this room may be able to get back to the Finals, some players in this room may be able to win a championship. I think accepting what this moment has been, where we come to as a team, and hopefully as guys continue on in their careers — whether it’s five, 10, 15 years — they’ll use this as a reference point.”
They were simply up against a great force of evil. The nuns couldn’t even thwart the doings of Danhausen.
Danhausen saved the Knicks when they were about to be a first round exit. He spared them
He is very evil, but he can be very nice.
The Knicks need to get Danhausen a championship ring made from human teeth.
I’m not sure how much I can take the Spurs seriously. Fox has to go but no team will want him. The Spurs need experienced vets who can actually contribute on a basketball court and not warm up the bench seats. Spurs need to upgrade from Luke Kornet. Dylan Harper needs more minutes and Stephon Castle needs to work on his offensive game. Wemby needs to take games more seriously and show that he is dominant. The West is only going to get better.
Take them very seriously. Fox stinks and has got to go, but theres tons of better veteran fits who would love to join Wemby and Harper.
There are some quotes here that just affirm what I said. The coach admits it. “There’s a lot that goes into it,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “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. Well whose fault is that? It’s HIS FAULT.
They admit Harper was gassed. Well he was. Then he wasn’t in shape to play the whole game if he had to and why was he in there gassed? Whose fault is that? Both Harper AND the coach who didn’t have him ready to play.
We made a lot of mistakes and didn’t deserve to win. Well I can agree with that at least.
Johnson was over his head and got schooled by Brown. Knicks didn’t even play their best and still won. Spurs has a experience player in Barnes who has won championships but barely played him the series and not in 5th game. Why? You put vets out there when you young players are struggling.
The better team won.
never said they didn’t. Its always about match ups and adjustments.
The better team did not win, the East is garbage, they had to play the weak Hawks, 76ers and Cavs, meanwhile the Spurs had to run through the Blazers, Wolves and Thunder.
Spurs played their Finals vs the Thunder.
knicks were peaking so they were the better team. Only the 76ers were a bad team the knicks faced because of injuries to 76ers.
Fox, Bryant, and picks for Giannis… the timeline is already accelerated.
The Spurs would have won with Curry
Or maybe the west just beat itself and Knicks got red hot like the Pacers did last year. Knicks just being hot for longer and the West being so much more brutal to get through this year.
The east always has those teams…heat, pacers, now Knicks.
As the saying goes it better to peak in the playoffs and finals than to peak during the regular season.
Brown didnt care about reg season record. They were all focused on winning in the postseason.
Every coach feels that way.
Mike Brown executed the “rope a dope” playbook on this rookie Spurs team perfectly: let the Spurs go crazy and wail on you, then when they drop their heads when they go up by 15-30, dust them in the second half when mentally they are gone.
The best COACH sure won this time. Spurs coach should be fired for not stationing Wemby at the bucket with 1.2 seconds left and lobbing it to him. Why did they attempt any other play there to end that game? Mitch Johnson lost these games more than any Spurs player deserves blame.
Spurs go out and trade for Giannis sending Milwaukee Fox Kornet for salary purposes and a boat load of draft picks the next 4-5 years
Spurs have from nice looking picks and many 2nds that could fall within the top 31-40 range in addition to the firsts they could include minimum
8-10 1sts and 2nds next 3-4 years given their young core
Bucks reroute Fox to someone else for more draft picks
Financially speaking
Spurs getting Giannis
Bucks getting Fox and Kornet plus draft picks
Bucks ship Fox off to Raptors for Quickley, Dick, Murray Boyles and picks
Something like that.