Mitch Johnson did not hide from the moment after the Spurs’ season ended with a 94-90 loss to the Knicks in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Saturday night.
Asked about the bigger picture, he said, “Yeah, it’s a little early to go there,” before adding that San Antonio had been through “blood, sweat, and tears for nine months, basically.”
Johnson’s central message was blunt: “It’s over. And so there’ll be plenty of time for reflection, but yeah, on the surface level, I don’t think anybody other than the people in that room expected us to be here.” He followed that with a line that defined the night, saying, “There was a lot of good in that, and there’s a lot of pain in what just happened, and both things can be true.”
When the discussion turned to the four losses in the series, Johnson did not soften the conclusion. “The simple consistencies we didn’t deserve to win the games,” he said. “There’s a lot of level of execution. There could be rebounding. There could be end of game details. There can be starting the game where you get the lead and then you don’t sustain that.”
He then delivered the clearest verdict of all: “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. And that’s what it is.”
Johnson also framed the loss as part of the growth process, not the end of it. When asked what he told the team in the locker room, he said, “I’m not going to get into what I told them, but the general sentiment is just, I want them to feel all the emotions, I feel that too.” He tied that to the work ahead, saying, “Whatever they feel, that’s real, that’s what is competitive in this, that’s what makes you better, that’s what pushes you to continue to improve in the dark, long hours when nobody’s around.”
The Spurs head coach repeatedly returned to the idea that the pain of the Finals can become fuel. “We improved a whole lot this year,” Johnson said, “and we still have a lot now, more motivation to continue to get better.” He added that he hopes the experience leaves the group “hungrier than they’ve ever been” and “more motivated than they’ve ever been.”
Johnson also pointed to the learning curve for a young roster. After Jalen Brunson scored 45 points, including 13 straight in the fourth quarter, Johnson said, “He’s aggressive and he got to spots and we were undisciplined at times.” Asked what bothered him most defensively, he answered simply: “Make him score less points.”
His comments about the Spurs’ youth were just as direct. “Teams that have been in this space before typically have a group of people that have played together for some time,” he said. “A lot of times that shows itself in the slowest part of the game and at the end of the game.” Then came the context: “These guys are going through that for the first time this year and then in the playoffs for the first time, in the conference finals and the finals.”
Johnson reserved special praise for Dylan Harper and Carter Bryant, calling them rookies who trusted the program and “won for the San Antonio Spurs.” He was equally emphatic about Victor Wembanyama, saying his leadership “has grown tremendously” and that he has “stepped into every moment with the appropriate amount of fearlessness and also respect for the moment.”
For Johnson, the night was equal parts disappointment and proof of progress. “We’ll be better,” he said. “We’re not going to flinch, blink, waver.”
