The San Antonio Spurs’ season ended in disappointment as they fell to the New York Knicks in just five games, but that doesn’t tell the full story. This series was crazy all around, with players shrinking when the lights got the brightest and players rising to the occasion, but that’s usually how it goes in the playoffs. What usually doesn’t happen is a team repeatedly blowing a double-digit lead over and over again, and that’s exactly what the Spurs did in these Finals. It was how consistently they did it that seemed a bit odd and raised many concerns.
You would think that having a double-digit lead in the postseason is just what teams strive to obtain, but that wasn’t the case for San Antonio during this series. Apparently, getting off to a fast start doesn’t mean much of anything if you don’t know how to hold it and finish off the game correctly.
They lead by 14 points in Game One, 12 points in Game Two, 29 points in Game Four, and 16 points in Game Five, which they would go on to lose all four of these games. It seemed like as soon as the second half of the game started, the Spurs would either get comfortable with the lead or get complacent with the shots they were taking.
You can not be playing with your food in this league, especially in the NBA Finals, and they just looked all out of sorts when their leads would start to diminish. A big reason for bringing in De’Aaron Fox was to be that closer for them in the fourth quarter when things got tight, but it just did not work that way for them. A lead of anything under 20 doesn’t feel like much in today’s NBA, but a 29-point lead is something that they should have had under control. Even the one game that they did end up winning almost resulted in another double digit blown lead.
Lots of mishaps from the whole team were made for these leads to be blown. They’ve got to learn how to close out games better; it’s just that simple. The Spurs could make some moves this offseason, especially with the way that Fox played down the stretch. Who knows what the front office has in mind? This is still a young team that will continue to grow together, and for a team that just made the Finals on its first playoff run under Victor Wembanyama, the league has been put on notice.
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