The San Antonio Spurs came within one shot of evening the NBA Finals, but head coach Mitch Johnson left Game 2 focused on a bigger issue than Victor Wembanyama’s final miss.
After New York’s 105-104 victory on Friday night at Frost Bank Center, Johnson pointed to the Spurs’ offensive struggles earlier in the game, particularly Wembanyama’s limited involvement during the first half.
“Four shots in a half on this stage is not acceptable,” Johnson said when asked why the 22-year-old star was largely absent offensively before halftime.
Wembanyama finished with 29 points, nine rebounds and four blocks after a quiet start. He scored 25 points after the break and nearly delivered a series-changing moment when De’Aaron Fox found him for a jumper in the closing seconds.
Johnson had no issue with the final possession.
“Just put Fox and Victor in a pick and roll there,” Johnson said. “Fox made a good pass to him and he caught it with some space, took a good shot.”
The shot rimmed out, allowing the Knicks to escape with a one-point win and take a 2-0 series lead as the Finals shift to Madison Square Garden.
Johnson believed the Spurs showed the urgency needed to compete after falling behind by 14 points in the fourth quarter. San Antonio responded with a 14-0 run and briefly grabbed the lead when Wembanyama converted a three-point play with 57 seconds remaining.
“Yeah, I mean we showed tremendous desperation, urgency, and competitive response,” Johnson said. “Hopefully we can try to bottle that up where we don’t have to be down that many points to try to play with that same level of those aspects.”
The Spurs spent much of the night trying to recover from execution mistakes that allowed New York to control the game.
“We just weren’t playing good enough,” Johnson said. “We weren’t consistent enough in our execution in a lot of phases of the game.”
He added that the Knicks’ shot-making also created problems.
“Felt like we chased the game a little bit,” Johnson said. “They made some really tough shots at the end of the shot clock and I thought that affected our approach at times and took away from just trying to play our brand of basketball.”
New York received 21 points and 13 rebounds from Karl-Anthony Towns, while Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges added 20 points each. Johnson pushed back on the suggestion that Towns has dominated the matchup unchecked through two games.
“I think he’s made some shots and he’s a really good player,” Johnson said. “I don’t think he’s gotten everything he’s wanted. I think he’s played two good games. We still got to make it tougher on him.”
Johnson also addressed the challenges facing a young Spurs roster after consecutive home losses.
“We don’t feel like we played well or up to our standard at least in the last two games,” Johnson said. “New York’s played very well and they’re a part of that, but we’re going to go into game three and if we play our brand of basketball up to our standard, we’ll be just fine.”
The Spurs now head to New York needing a response. History is not on their side. The Knicks have won 13 consecutive playoff games and are two victories away from their first NBA championship since 1973.
