NBA Season/Playoffs 2025-26

[jambr380]

They blew leads of 14, 12, 29 and 16 in their four losses.

No team in NBA history has ever had a double digit lead in every game of the series that went on to lose the NBA Finals until now

I don't know if that is accurate or not but I presume it is.

-------------------

This post below illustrates just how badly SAS choked

Justin Van Zuiden
@stlcardinals84

Spurs had 92.3% win odds in Game 1 up 13 in the 3rd.

Spurs had 83.6% win odds in Game 2 up 12 in the 2nd.

Spurs had 99.6% win odds in Game 4 up 20 in the 4th.

Spurs had 97.1% win odds in Game 5 up 14 in the 3rd.

They lost them all.

Those Gm 4 and Gm 5 losses were unfathomable.

Game 2 was unfathomable, too. If not for the horrific 29 point blown lead in game 4 and obviously what went down last night, that Wemby pass off of Castle's back (Wemby's fault, but Castle should have been looking for the ball from his Center) would have been the play of the Finals - maybe one of the worst play of any Finals.

It still might be since it put them in an 0-2 hole. But if they didn't blow these last two games, they'd actually be up 3-2 right now even with that costly mistake.

[Who]

?NBA Stat?:

The Spurs outscored the Knicks by 5.4 points per 100 possessions with Dylan Harper on the court the during the NBA Finals: On: +5.4 Net Rating Off: -8 Net Rating

Mitch Johnson cost the Spurs any shot at making this a competitive series not playing Harper over De'Aaron Fox. (via E. Sidery) #NBA

bsky.app

[Who]

I like this advice from Shump

Iman Shumpert says it's time for Wemby to work with Tim Duncan to find a go to move:

"He wasn't ready. I know if they haven't already, this is your year with Tim Duncan. It's time to sit down with Tim Duncan for the whole summer and understand how to get to something. How to have a plan that nobody can do anything about - He's gonna have to watch Dirk, you're gonna have to watch some Kobe. Go watch some Tim Duncan"

Agree with the lack of a go-to move. Something Wemby can go to when his team needs a bucket.

Shaq chimed in

NBA Base: Shaq says Victor Wembanyama needs to hit the weight room this summer after losing to the Knicks: "As good as he is, he's going to need to get stronger. Because when you become a dominant big man, people are going to force .... So, I don't know what he's going to do this summer, but he definitely needs to get in that weight room and get stronger."

I see this as an issue with developing a go-to move. People are going to push him off the low post. Or if Wemby wants to play more in the mid post, they are going to push him further out from 14-16 feet to 18-19 feet to start his move. He is going to need to be stronger in order to regularly claim the area of the court where he wants to catch the ball and start his go-to move.

[Who]

ESPN Insights: Jalen Brunson is the fourth player listed at 6'2" or shorter to win NBA Finals MVP, joining: Stephen Curry (2022)  Tony Parker (2007) Isiah Thomas (1990) Heart over height

[Goldstar88]

?NBA Stat?:

The Spurs outscored the Knicks by 5.4 points per 100 possessions with Dylan Harper on the court the during the NBA Finals: On: +5.4 Net Rating Off: -8 Net Rating

Mitch Johnson cost the Spurs any shot at making this a competitive series not playing Harper over De'Aaron Fox. (via E. Sidery) #NBA

bsky.app

100%. Harper outplayed Castle and Fox the whole series and Mitch wouldn?t adjust the lineup. Barnes played 26mpg in the regular season and has championship pedigree. Spurs coach did not let him see the floor. You can?t have a very young/inexperienced team with an inept coach. Spurs should fire Mitch today.

[Birdman]

Wemby is 7-5, he should be a dominant force down low

[Goldstar88]

I like this advice from Shump

Iman Shumpert says it's time for Wemby to work with Tim Duncan to find a go to move:

"He wasn't ready. I know if they haven't already, this is your year with Tim Duncan. It's time to sit down with Tim Duncan for the whole summer and understand how to get to something. How to have a plan that nobody can do anything about - He's gonna have to watch Dirk, you're gonna have to watch some Kobe. Go watch some Tim Duncan"

Agree with the lack of a go-to move. Something Wemby can go to when his team needs a bucket.

Shaq chimed in

NBA Base: Shaq says Victor Wembanyama needs to hit the weight room this summer after losing to the Knicks: "As good as he is, he's going to need to get stronger. Because when you become a dominant big man, people are going to force .... So, I don't know what he's going to do this summer, but he definitely needs to get in that weight room and get stronger."

I see this as an issue with developing a go-to move. People are going to push him off the low post. Or if Wemby wants to play more in the mid post, they are going to push him further out from 14-16 feet to 18-19 feet to start his move. He is going to need to be stronger in order to regularly claim the area of the court where he wants to catch the ball and start his go-to move.

Wemby should model his game after KG, not Duncan. Garnett was lean and lanky like Wemby. Duncan was a tank in comparison. Tim had a totally different body type which allowed him to operate in the low post. If Victor can steal KGs moves from the video below, he would be unstoppable with his height/length. Kareem would be another comp.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cgJy0JoQ7TI&pp=ygUXa2V2aW4gZ2FybmV0IHBvc3QgbW92ZXM%3D&ra=m

[Phantom255x]

Fox had 7 points, 5 assists in 37 minutes yesterday and committed a flagrant foul in the 1st. Went 3-15 shooting. Meanwhile Harper only played 30 minutes. Fox wasn't providing much on defense either. Spurs only have themselves to blame, especially the coach. The Knicks adjusted and played to their strengths and even in some critical moments went with the hot hand and what was working. Mitch Johnson didn't.

[Who]

I like this advice from Shump

Iman Shumpert says it's time for Wemby to work with Tim Duncan to find a go to move:

"He wasn't ready. I know if they haven't already, this is your year with Tim Duncan. It's time to sit down with Tim Duncan for the whole summer and understand how to get to something. How to have a plan that nobody can do anything about - He's gonna have to watch Dirk, you're gonna have to watch some Kobe. Go watch some Tim Duncan"

Agree with the lack of a go-to move. Something Wemby can go to when his team needs a bucket.

Shaq chimed in

NBA Base: Shaq says Victor Wembanyama needs to hit the weight room this summer after losing to the Knicks: "As good as he is, he's going to need to get stronger. Because when you become a dominant big man, people are going to force .... So, I don't know what he's going to do this summer, but he definitely needs to get in that weight room and get stronger."

I see this as an issue with developing a go-to move. People are going to push him off the low post. Or if Wemby wants to play more in the mid post, they are going to push him further out from 14-16 feet to 18-19 feet to start his move. He is going to need to be stronger in order to regularly claim the area of the court where he wants to catch the ball and start his go-to move.

Wemby should model his game after KG, not Duncan. Garnett was lean and lanky like Wemby. Duncan was a tank in comparison. Tim had a totally different body type which allowed him to operate in the low post. If Victor can steal KGs moves from the video below, he would be unstoppable with his height/length. Kareem would be another comp.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cgJy0JoQ7TI&pp=ygUXa2V2aW4gZ2FybmV0IHBvc3QgbW92ZXM%3D&ra=m

Yeah, I think they are good comps for Wemby. Both guys had to add muscle in the early stages of their career as well.

Kareem had a few disappointing playoff series against Wilt & Nate Thurmond who pushed him around in his early days. Kareem scored but his FG% went way down. It wasn't until the mid-70s when he added enough muscle to be more consistent against those physically strong defensive big men.

I'd like to see Wemby copy KG more than Kareem. By that I mean, I'd like to see Wemby become a high post facilitator in the Spurs offense. Open up the court for others and allow those star guards to score. Save some of his energy for the defensive end. Instead of being a 30ppg guy like Kareem who is getting worn down offensively & defensively through all his responsibilities and while putting the guards in secondary roles where they have less influence on the game offensively.

[Who]

Tom Orsborn
@tom_orsborn

Stephon Castle on how the Knicks defense made it tough on him and his teammates:

?They crowded the pick and rolls a lot, made us stagnant on the ball. When we tried get to isolation, they took away passing lanes too, made us play one-on-one a lot.?

I found it odd how bad the Spurs offense was in this series. I expected it to be a bit dodgy but it was far worse than I thought. The 3 guards in particular. I thought their inability to hit jump-shots hurt the Spurs badly.

D Fox was 7-28 on threes. 25%.
D Harper was 7-25 on threes. 28%.
S Castle was 6-20 on threes. 30%.

None of them were consistent 2 point jump-shooters either. There was no spacing.

The forwards play off of others (Champagnie, D Vassell, Keldon Johnson). They don't create much for themselves. So the Knicks did not have to worry about them. Only the guards. Play off the guards. Force them to shoot more jumpers. Try to limit how much they get inside the defense / get into the paint. Limit how much they can create for the forwards to score.

If not for Wemby and his jump-shooting threat, I think the guards' inability to shoot jump-shots would have stood out even more.

[Who]

Here are some fun tweets about the Finals I came across:

Jace frederick
@JaceFrederick

Fun fact: Spurs somehow won the clutch time minutes in this series

39-38

Shot 38% in the clutch to New York?s 32%

Huh? NYK stunk up the place this series. San Antonio's defense was terrific. He stopped them. However, San An's offense couldn't take advantage and secure the win. It was too bad.

Still, a surprise to see they outscored NY in the clutch.

Dean Oliver
@DeanO_Lytics

If my count is right, if they stopped the games after 46 minutes, the Spurs would have won the series in 5 games.

That hurts.

Esfandiar Baraheni
@JustEsBaraheni

Insane stat by the ESPN broadcast: the Spurs led for 69% of the NBA Finals.

Closest 5-game series in the Finals I can ever think of.

Oh, 70% of the series? Ohh ... that hurts.

Mike Vorkunov
@MikeVorkunov

Knicks outscored Spurs by just 12 points total in the NBA Finals ? tied for closest finals ever for a series that lasted 5 or fewer games. Celtics were +12 over the Mavericks in the 2024 Finals but that was skewed by a 38-point loss in Game 4. This series was tight the whole way.

Henry Abbott
@TrueHoop

Over the five games of the NBA Finals

Karl-Anthony Towns on the court: Knicks +44.
Karl-Anthony Towns on the bench: Knicks -32.

It was incredible the difference Towns made when he was on the floor. Particularly on the offensive end. NY reverted back to that pre-Towns team with Hartenstein. It was like Hartenstein & DiVicenzo switched out for M Robinson & M Bridges. That offense was a one-man show with Brunson responsible for 65-70% of everything that happened.

Team offense vs Brunson-show. Towns vs no Towns.

HoopsHype
@hoopshype

Jalen Brunson scored 47.9 percent of his team's points today.

It's the second-best mark in NBA Finals history... only behind Michael Jordan the day he won his sixth title.

Jordan also had 45pts in that Gm 6 win over Utah. The score was 87-86 compared to 94-90 for NY last night. That would be 51.7% of Chicago's points.

More on Jalen's 45 points

Tim Bontemps
@TimBontemps

From the great @StatsWilliams:

To have 45 points in a close out Finals victory all-time:

Michael Jordan, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bob Pettit ? And, now, Jalen Brunson.

MJ and Brunson had 45pts.
Pettit had 50pts and 19reb.
Giannis had 50pts and 14reb and 5blks.

Legion Hoops
@LegionHoops

Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins have won an NBA championship before Jimmy Butler.

That is petty. But fun.

StatMuse
@statmuse

Josh Hart in Game 5:

13 PTS 11 REB +15

Averaged 10 rebounds per game this Finals.

Way to go Josh Hart. 10rpg at 6-5. Impressive.

[SparzWizard]

I guess it just goes to show a team doesn't really have to play all 48 mins to win.

Play only 5 minutes and you win.

[Goldstar88]

Fox had 7 points, 5 assists in 37 minutes yesterday and committed a flagrant foul in the 1st. Went 3-15 shooting. Meanwhile Harper only played 30 minutes. Fox wasn't providing much on defense either. Spurs only have themselves to blame, especially the coach. The Knicks adjusted and played to their strengths and even in some critical moments went with the hot hand and what was working. Mitch Johnson didn't.

Castle was worse with 6pts/5rebs/4ast/3TO on 1-10 shooting. Brunson abused him all game as well. Fox only had 1 turnover. He is a much better ball handler. Spurs should start Fox and Harper. Castle off the bench.