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Mitch Johnson's brutally honest admission may explain Spurs' Finals collapse originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Mitch Johnson did not blame officiating, bad luck, or one or two costly possessions after the San Antonio Spurs watched the New York Knicks erase another lead and close out the NBA Finals in Game 5. Instead, the Spurs coach delivered a much harsher assessment of his own team.
"We didn't deserve to win the games," Johnson said after the loss. He later added, "We weren't ready to win an NBA championship. The better team won."
That may sound harsh after a season that ended with a Finals appearance, but it also gets to the heart of what happened in this series.
The Spurs were talented enough to reach the championship round. They were talented enough to build leads. They just were not consistent enough to finish games. San Antonio led in all four of its Finals losses and blew a 16-point advantage in Game 5 after surrendering a 29-point lead in Game 4.
That distinction matters because it changes the conversation around the offseason.
The easy reaction is to focus on roster upgrades. Every contender looks for more shooting, more depth, or another veteran. But Johnson's comments pointed toward something less tangible. His concern was execution, game management, and sustaining winning basketball for 48 minutes. Those are usually signs of a team still learning how to handle championship pressure.
The Spurs' core is also remarkably young. Victor Wembanyama is already one of the league's best players, winning Defensive Player of the Year and leading San Antonio back to contention faster than many expected. Dylan Harper, Stephon Castle, and several key contributors are still early in their careers.
That youth helped fuel the team's rise. It may also explain why the final step proved so difficult.
Johnson's other message was equally revealing. He said he wanted players to feel the disappointment because those emotions become motivation when nobody is watching. That sounds less like a coach questioning his roster and more like a coach challenging it. The Spurs improved dramatically this season, but their Finals collapse exposed a gap between being a contender and being a champion.
The biggest question now is not whether San Antonio has enough talent. The Finals suggested it does. The question is whether this painful loss becomes the lesson that transforms a promising young team into the next NBA champion.
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- Mitch Johnson’s blunt Victor Wembanyama take proves why Knicks had no answer in Game 3
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