The San Antonio Spurs are one loss away from seeing their championship hopes end, but guard Stephon Castle made it clear Friday that belief inside the locker room remains unchanged despite the team’s devastating Game 4 collapse against the New York Knicks.
Speaking ahead of Game 5 of the NBA Finals, Castle repeatedly returned to one theme: confidence. Even after the Spurs squandered a 29-point lead and fell 107-106 on OG Anunoby’s tip-in with 1.2 seconds remaining, the guard said the group still believes it can become only the second team in NBA Finals history to overcome a 3-1 deficit.
“Yeah, it definitely matters,” Castle said when asked about the possibility of making history. “I feel like we’ve made history all year and I mean, we’ve proven that, you know, with our backs against the wall that, you know, we can step up. So, you know, I don’t really expect this to be any different.”
Castle pointed to the Spurs’ performance throughout the series as a reason for optimism. San Antonio has held a double-digit lead in all four Finals games despite trailing the series 3-1.
“I think just our confidence,” Castle said. “I mean, we’ve had a 10-plus point lead in every single game. So, I mean, just trying to stay poised throughout that and trying to keep our foot on the gas really.”
That inability to maintain those advantages has become the defining storyline of the Finals. The Spurs won Game 3 but dropped Games 1, 2 and 4 after controlling significant stretches.
Castle believes the problem has been less about execution under pressure and more about changing the way the team plays once it gains control.
“I feel like when once we get those leads, we start to play a little bit different, take our foot off the gas defensively,” Castle said. “But yeah, I just think we have to stay aggressive, but be smart through it.”
The 2025-26 Western Conference champions encountered a similar challenge during their seven-game Western Conference Finals victory over the Thunder, but Castle said dwelling on missed opportunities in this series serves little purpose.
“Yeah, it’s definitely hard looking back at it and just thinking about what the series score could be,” he admitted. “You know based off self-inflicted mistakes. But I mean the reality of it is we’re here now, so it’s not too late to fix those mistakes.”
Castle also offered a detailed assessment of what fueled New York’s record-setting comeback in Game 4. While the Knicks eventually caught fire offensively behind 36 points from Jalen Brunson, Castle said the warning signs appeared well before the shots started falling.
“I think our shot selection wasn’t great,” Castle said. “But I think it started with our defense.”
“Just going back and watching it, we got let off the hook a lot in the second half. We had some bad defensive possessions and even though they didn’t make the shot so it didn’t really feel that bad, I feel like the possession itself was still bad.”
According to Castle, those mistakes accumulated over time.
“I feel like it was just a trickle-down effect for the rest of the second half,” he said. “They were able to generate a lot of open shots whether they made them or missed them and eventually they started to fall for them and I feel like that’s how their comeback started.”
As the Spurs prepare for a win-or-go-home Game 5, Castle emphasized the approach that carried them through the regular season and postseason.
“Our mindset coming into every game is going to be the same,” he said. “Trying to have short-term memory through wins and losses.”
