The narrative surrounding the Spurs’ surprising postseason run was how a team with so little experience could go so far. For four of their five starters, the 2026 run to the NBA Finals was their first taste of any playoff action.
The Spurs managed to mask their inexperience with dominant play over the course of three series; however, against the Knicks, their youth became too hard to ignore.
Spurs Let Games Go
In each of the Knicks’ four victories in the Finals, the Spurs blew double-digit leads. Their hot starts were quickly extinguished by the time the second half rolled around.
The Spurs struggled the most at critical points in games. In clutch time during the playoffs, they went 3-8, including 0-5 at home. They lost all three of their home games in the Finals and blew a 29-point lead in Game 4.
Key stretches proved costly to a team that had a chance to win every game they lost in the Finals. Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle’s miscommunication at the end of Game 2, when the score was tied 104-104, turned out to be catastrophic. Wembanyama dished a pass to Castle a second too late, as Castle had turned his back and begun jogging up the court.
The Spurs seemed unsure of whether or not to call timeout or bring the ball up. They were denied the opportunity to do either when they fouled Brunson to put him at the free-throw line. Brunson split two at the line and gave his team a one-point edge, which secured their victory.
Oftentimes, the difference between wins and losses isn’t big, flashy plays; it’s small moments that add up over the course of a full game. The defeat to the Knicks taught Wembanyama just how detrimental small mistakes can be.
“One of the many things I learned is the margin of error is very, very thin,” he said postgame. “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.”
Spurs’ Errors Came Back to Bite Them
The Game 2 ending was just one of several instances in which it looked evident that the Spurs had not been in those situations before.
Many will chalk up their devastating Game 4 loss to OG Anunoby’s sneak tip-in. But OG’s shot isn’t the reason why they gave up a 29-point lead.
The Spurs settled for jump shots in the fourth quarter – a strategy that may not have seemed terrible given that they went 14/26 from beyond the arc in the first half. Unfortunately for them, their shooting significantly cooled off as they made just three of 17 three-pointers in the second half.
Wembanyama also missed two huge free throws with 1:47 left in the game and the Spurs down by one. De’Aaron Fox’s late-game blunder of attempting a layup instead of dribbling out the clock was the nail in the coffin.
Afterwards, Spurs players admitted they didn’t play with the intensity they should have in the second half. “We just can’t take our foot off the gas,” Dylan Harper said after their Game 4 loss. “It’s one thing for me to sit up here and say it. It’s another for us to go out there and do it.”
Knicks Paid Their Dues
The pain of difficult losses is a feeling the Knicks know all too well. Mikal Bridges’ Suns team went up 2-0 in the 2021 Finals against the Bucks and lost the series. The torturous memory stuck with Bridges and provided all the experience he needed to ensure the Knicks never let loose when they got up 2-0 this time.
The Knicks also knew firsthand how quickly leads can vanish. They overcame a 22-point deficit with less than eight minutes to go against the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals. But even before this year’s playoffs, the Knicks had already walked through a fire the Spurs hadn’t.
Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart still remember their playoff matchup with the Heat in 2023. The Knicks were down 2-3 in the series and looked to force a Game 7. They trailed by two with 26 seconds to go when Brunson turned the ball over trying to navigate a double-team. The Knicks went on to lose the game.
Brunson admitted to ruminating on his untimely turnover throughout the offseason. Josh Hart kept thinking about what he and his team could have done to advance to the next round. Both learned how close the line is between wins and losses. They’ve endured the heartache of crushing defeats in close moments and built on the lessons they learned from those experiences.
Using the Loss to Fuel Them
The Spurs undoubtedly have a bright future ahead of them with their franchise player being only 22 years old. In the long run, falling short of their ultimate goal could prove to be the first stepping stone towards success in the future. All in all, they overachieved this season.
As gut-wrenched as the Spurs were knowing the Knicks were celebrating on their home floor, Wembanyama knows how valuable these playoffs were in expediting the team’s growth.
“This season has been a hell of a year in terms of experience,” Wembanyama said. “I don’t think we could have learned more and gained more experience in one playoff run, in one season…it’s been hard and full of lessons.”
The Spurs will take the pain and use it to motivate them going forward, just as the Knicks did before they finally broke through. The best NBA teams have endured some level of adversity in order to reach the basketball pinnacle. The Spurs dodged the inexperienced label nearly the entire season, but in the end, it finally caught up to them.
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