Mitch Johnson: “People have their opinions. I don’t care. De’Aaron Fox will have the ball in his hands at the end of the game tomorrow and I have nothing but the utmost confidence that he’s gonna deliver like he’s done countless times for us”
I mean Fox messed up, but Mitch Johnson is the main reason the Spurs blew a 27 point half time lead. They kept chucking 3s when the entire goal should have been getting into the paint.
Well that and the Knicks
You don’t come back from 29 points down without help from the other team. Spurs took 14 threes in the 3rd. Why? lol. Could have taken 24 second violation on every play and still won. Spurs choked more than anything in my mind.
I don’t know why they can’t acknowledge that. It’s not just the 29 point lead. It’s the 20 pt lead with 8:00 to go. 8 minutes is 20 possessions if each team uses the full 24. If the Spurs just had shot clock violations, that leaves Knicks 10 possessions to make up 20 points. They’d have to shoot lights out while not giving the Spurs extra possessions to milk the clock even more. The Spurs are way more responsible for this loss than the Knicks are for the win.
It takes two to tango. Give credit to the Knicks for never giving up and capitalizing on the Spurs mistakes.
Is a winning chess player’s any less worthy of the win if the opposing player goofed? No. The winner outfoxed and outlasted them.
Literally who is even making this argument lmao? Every journalist, redditor or whoever all agree that this was the Spurs collapsing.
It’s just, like that person said, “also the Knicks.” In other words probably no other team in the league would have succeeded at doing what the Knicks did anyway, especially in the East.
But it’s fun to shoot threes
Can confirm
Yes. I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks this. Just taking shot clock violations or better yet shooting at one second and maybe getting the rebound to restart the shot clock.
The Atlanta Falcons Super Bowl choke job is on par with what the Spurs just let happen. But at least the Spurs have more chances to make up for it.
They took 10 threes in the first 16 in the second 12 in the third and 5 in the fourth. They used the same shot selection in the third as in the first half, they just didn’t have a ridiculous shooting percentage in the second half. In the fourth they adjusted not to shoot the threes, like reddit is saying, didn’t work.
And I don’t think they wanted to shoot this many threes, these were the shots the Knicks let them take from min 1. The miracle was getting 14⁄26 of those in the first half, not the comeback.
With a usual distribution of threes made, it’s “only” about a 12-15 point comeback with the same strategy and people wouldn’t care about the threes at all.
The Knicks didn’t play well enough to overcome a 27 point lead by themselves. They had a good but not overwhelming 58 points in the 2nd half. The Spurs were also up 20 with 8 minutes to go. The Spurs were more complicit in their demise than the Knicks. The Knicks capitalized on all the mistakes the Spurs made.
No team has ever played well enough by themselves to make such a comeback. One team playing ass and the other team playing good is always the ingredients to a comeback
They certain played poor enough to be down by 29. Maybe it’s the Knicks poor play in the first half that made the difference. See how easy that is? Oh if Brown wasn’t stupid in the first half we would not need to have come back by that much. It’s an insult to both teams.
Was Brown stupid or did Kat get into foul trouble early?
Bit of both imo. They had Kat posting up/diving to the dunkers spot much more in the first half. He started getting frustrated with the physicality that comes with playing like a big man and looked mentally checked out. Brunson, whether because he was forced to due to KAT being in foul trouble or because he wanted to, was dribbling the air out of the ball.
Then in the second half, they ran more offense through KAT at the top of the key looking to distribute and went on a 10-0 run and looked like the team that won 14 straight. They mixed it up throughout the rest of the game.
The Spurs had a good game plan that caught the Knicks off guard in the first half. The Knicks were able to make adjustments in the second half and the Spurs coasted on their previous success to a loss.
I don’t expect a coach to have solutions ready for every problem the opponent throws their way ahead of time, but I do expect a coach to be able to find solutions once he sees the problems. Brown did, Johnson didn’t.
The Knicks lost KAT to 2 quick fouls. They were getting ready to force feed him, IMO
That gameplan being Wemby feasting against our 3rd and 4th string bigs
Team that consistently does this sort of thing didn’t play well to deserve repeating said actions?
People act like the knicks werent playing their assess off too man. Of course they made mistakes, but the win was earned, not given
Ok but when you keep shooting the ball with 15+ seconds left on the shot clock and it’s brick after brick of threes. Then yea that’s coaching.
Partially yeah.
Spurs missed their 2’s too at the same rate as their 3’s.
Are you describing Knicks in the first half?
Yeah, the one thing I didn’t see anyone acknowledging was why Wemby and the others were reluctant to drive to the rim. The Knicks just haven’t been letting them get to it very often. The Spurs settle for threes because those are usually the best looks they can create against the defense.
Yes, it’s easy to say that Mitch should’ve told them to stop jacking up threes, but for all I know, he did tell them exactly that, but the Knicks wouldn’t allow anything else to work for them.
The only real error on his part I would call out was clock management. Regardless of what kind of shots they took, if the Spurs had worked to drain the shot clock on every single possession and kill time, and have Wemby kick out ORs rather than try to immediately put them back, there’s a good chance we don’t even get enough possessions to complete that comeback, regardless of how anyone played.
I would think the coach has them burn clock, run plays. Through the playoffs, every once in a while I’ll see fox coordinating an offensive set, and good things happen. I wonder why they don’t do it more.
Even with how good the knicks played, it should have been in the Spurs hands and they crumbled. Regardless im happy that if anyone was gonna lock that game in, it was OG, he has been lights out all series(probably fouled fox on that layup though).
It’s either cope or downright homerism. I don’t have a problem with either.
Easier to “play your ass off” when your opponent forgets what sport they’re playing for 22 straight minutes…
This was Falcons Patriots. Straight up given away
If the Spurs scored 32 in the second half they win, thats some Orlando Magic shit
100%
That lead was so big that all they had to do was put up some average scoring numbers with higher percentage shots and drives/FTs and the Knicks had NO chance.
The Spurs are not serious about winning if they lose this series and don’t replace Johnson. I have been watching and playing ball for 30 plus years and I have never seen a more embarrassing coaching performance.
Kat had 4 fouls and they just stopped attacking.
Yeah it’s Mitch’s fault the team was chucking 3s… are y’all serious? Lmao
He was in all their heads….
Don’t let the GM off the hook. Spurs bench is littered with unplayable dudes pulling down fat contracts. With all the draft assets Spurs have they could’ve and should’ve made a trade at the deadline using Harrison Barnes or Olynyk’s contract.
Imagine if Spurs had targeted someone like Ayo Dosumnu instead of staying pat.
Why not both ?
Hey someone here please tell me what a veteran point guards job on the team is? To settle the game and be a coach on the floor right?? Mitch and Fox are dumb and dumber
The goal should have been to run the goddamn clock. Just take shot clock violations and they would win the game.
It’s almost impossible to do what they did.
The spurs had a lot of good looks from 3 in the 2nd half. Very few of their shots was hero ball chucking. They just couldn’t make shit
He should have gone to the line for two shots.
Out coached. They do not know how to control the tempo of the game. And that falls on coaches shoulders
So they pulled Falcons. Yep, I remember.
He is the main reason? How many minutes did he play? How many shots did he take? Was he out there ordering them to take threes? Are the players robots?
it was a collective collapse, the only person not looking like they were scared of the moment was Harper. This wasn’t some singular mistake you can point at one person, because you can point at almost all of them.
People will clown him, but we saw when DeAaron was out that their guards couldn’t run the offense. It was turnover city.
It’s also a massive ask to put a rookie PG in that position and could destroy his confidence and, so far, stellar performance if he makes a mistake like that.
I disagree. It doesn’t matter if it’s a rookie PG or a 10 year old veteran, you grab the guy that is producing more and that is Dylan Harper. He has shown he is ready for the moment and is way more capable at scoring than Fox.
Dylan is a really good player who can create his own shot. But can he run an offense?
Ive watch them all year. He can’t run the offense yet that’s why they just have him scoring and defending. People don’t realize putting the whole offense on a rookie in the FINALS when you haven’t done it all year is not the best way to success.
We don’t know because Mitch Johnson refuses to play him in the fourth and keeps going with Fox despite him clearly proving he can’t handle the bright lights throughout the series
We do know that can’t run the offense. Game 1 and 2 against the thunder proved that
Like the whole world forgot that series apparently
He played 9 of 12 minutes in the 4th quarter of game 4. He had 2 TOs.
No Dylan has ran plenty of offense and he’s elite at finishing and creating for himself but not really for the team.
Exactly plus Fox is still visibly hampered by that ankle sprain. They closed game 3 out with Harper, Fox, and Castle on the floor and they went away from it in final minutes of game 4.
Let’s not try to find out until next year. Fox is doing a great job.
he doesn’t have to run it the whole game tbh, just in the clutch moments.
What does that mean? Harper can run the offense when the pressure is the highest but can’t in the first quarter?
Can Fox???
One game btw
Harper was +12 in the game btw. Seems like tha wouldn’t happen if the offense collapsed when he played lol.
OG was -1 and kat was +17. +- is a garbage stat sometimes.
i’m sorry, what he said was: “we saw when DeAaron was out that their guards couldn’t run the offense”.
do you have basic reading skills + basic logical reasoning?
Harper was in the game still at the end of the game
We saw Fox & Harper be turnover city against Oklahoma City, one of the best perimeter defenses we have ever seen. If Fox continues to eat shit competitively every clutch time, it is absolutely worth trying Fox & Harper as the lead guards against Jalen Brunson.
They won a game vs the Thunder without him. Knicks aren’t the Thunder.
It has never once made sense to me that Fox is supposed to be this hardened vet for them with playoff experience, etc. Like is there some alternate universe where the Kings weren’t the Kangz and this is true?
It’s just like in the business world where you sometimes get “senior” employees that are senior based on service time, not merit.
Ya but (playoffs aside) ostensibly he’s been in more close game situations.. made mistakes and learned from them.
They have one of the most experienced playoff vets in the league on their team with 77 playoff games and 5 game 7s played in
They just won’t put him on the court.
I was honestly surprised Barnes didn’t see the floor at any point. I know he’s not the same guy he once was but he always knew what to do when the other team started to go on a run and the offense stalled. When other players looked lost he was calm and collected and grounded the team. He should have at least seen the court for a few minutes when the momentum shifted.
hes a vet, but ya i totally agree the “playoff experience” narrative is sometimes the dumbest shit. He has 1 first round exit in the playoffs that went to 7 games…
At this point they are all pretty much at the same level of playoff experience, and it really showed with that 4th quarter collapse.
Fox was really good on the Kings tho…I mean I guess it was inflated due to being a perpetual lotto team but Id still put him as a top tier guard during those years. He just hasn’t settled well into his role in SA. Hes like a #4 option now when he should still be a solid #2 at this point in his career.
Fox was literally an all star this season 😂😂 he is the second option
He was a pity (replacement) All-Star this year. He was chosen because he’s the 2nd biggest “name” on the Spurs, and they were the 2 seed so of course they must have at least 2 All-Stars, right?
He averaged 18.6⁄3.8⁄6.2 on 48/33/76 splits (.578 TS%). Do those look like All-Star numbers? He wasn’t even a top 50 scorer this season on average-at-best efficiency, as a guy who pretty much only contributes scoring and a little bit of playmaking. (Side note, Castle averaged more than a full assist more per game than Fox in less minutes and with Fox ostensibly being the “main” ball handler.)
Fox may have been the 2nd option and 2nd leading scorer in the regular season this year, but Castle has clearly been the 2nd option on offense (and defense) in the playoffs and Harper has frequently been the 2nd-3rd best player overall. In the playoffs Fox is putting up 16/4/6 (42/31/76 splits) vs Castle’s 18.7/5/6.2 (47/36/82 splits).
It is not an exaggeration to say that Fox will be the #4 guy for the Spurs by next year.
Castle has been the clear 2nd option last few months and Haper by next season will be 3rd option.
Like buying a nuke from North Korea. Like…technically, I guess.
Facts
This is exactly what he’s supposed to say. I won’t stop believing in this team until the Knicks win 4 games.
I admire spurs fans for still having faith but I really doubt the players will have the mental strength to just breeze over the massive chokes they have made this series. Would love to be proven wrong but I think it ends tomorrow
The spurs aren’t gonna just lay down and die my dude
i feel like teams usually respond for one more game before getting trounced Game 6 but blowing a 30 point lead is brutal for morale
I usually agree but they just became part of history and not in a good way. Add to that the easily winnable game 2 and game 1 and I just don’t believe they will win another. They will obviously try but so much about basketball is confidence and the mental side
Look what happened to Cleveland. They lost the series in the very first game and never recovered. I don’t see Spurs responding to this either honestly.
True, although I would say that San Antonio not having someone like James Harden makes a huge difference. His bad attitude was visibly contagious for Cleveland, and the Spurs don’t have anyone in their midst who will visibly check out before the series is actually over and set the wrong example for the squad.
These Spurs are young and still gaining experience, but they’re also pretty resilient mentally. If G4 happened against almost any other team, I think we would’ve won by 5-10 rather than 1. I wouldn’t bet any amount of money against them making the comeback, even if it seems unlikely at the moment.
The Spurs have bounced back all season long. They didn’t lose 3 games in a row the entire season. I guess we’ll just have to see but I have faith that they’re not going to go down without a fight. That’s just not how they’ve carried themselves. They were down 3-2 to the champs just a few weeks ago.
They couldn’t win two games that were handed on a silver platter to them, no chance they win 3 games in a row. They may take one in San Antonio but this one’s over.
You know what the silver lining is after the horror that was Game 4?
That’s gonna be the worst it could ever be.
I mean, sure, I guess there’s some nightmare scenario where the Spurs blow a 30+ point lead in game 5. But likely not. And that’s why I think this team is gonna play loose and free and with joy, because it literally could not get any worse.
The only path is up and forward. Is that enough to beat a Knicks squad riding off what seems like a run anointed by destiny? Maybe. Maybe not. But I expect these kids to claw and scratch and refuse to go quietly into the night. They have nothing to lose by trying.
It’s worth pointing out that at half time, no one thought the Knicks would have a comeback. A bunch of people started even going so far as to say the series would tilt towards the Spurs because of how the Knicks were losing.
So while I hope it won’t happen, a Spurs comeback isn’t impossible. Wining 3 in a row is harder than winning a half but teams have come back from 3-1 before. It’s worth believing in your team like that.
That said, Knicks in 5 at MSG San Antonio branch.
Harper is part of the team and I trust him more in those moments already
Love Harper but he hasn’t done anything late in a game to have more faith in him than Fox. Fox just iced a game on Monday
In Game 2, he had two buckets in the last few minutes including one ballsy drive with like a minute and 20 seconds left. Of course the Wemby turnover wasn’t much later.
That’s honestly the right thing to say, though he should also recognize that they both made mistakes and learn from them
He literally said they made mistakes and will learn from them right before this or right after
Absolutely, if he publicly goes against a critical player then they might as well end the series now and it will be a huge blow to morale
People were shitting on Doc Rivers for throwing his players under the bus, and now criticizing Johnson for standing up for his guys? What do they want lol
Well considering fox and his headcoach seem to be just doubling down i dont think much learnings happening. Its clear harper is playing better, dont need to be a nba headcoach to see it and a win or go home finals game isnt the time to worry about players ego’s
lol you really think they haven’t watched film and talked about what they’re going to do differently?
He’s saying that Harper should have the ball in his hands at the end of the game not Fox
He’s like the Titanic crew who refused to abandon ship
Disagree the titanic crew “didn’t” refuse, they couldn’t refuse
No, it’s if the captain saw the iceberg and did nothing
I mean, the captain was asleep when the iceberg hit them. Describes Mitch Johnson in this series pretty well lol
This captain saw the iceberg, thought we’d miss it, and refused to make any decision that could jeopardize the ship.
The thing that drives me crazy about Mitch (and yet is also what makes me the most sympathetic about his issues) is that he appears terrified to make a mistake. He doesn’t want to call a timeout to ice a Knicks run because we might need that TO at the end of the game. He doesn’t want to trust an unproven, Wemby-less lineup so he won’t get grilled on “why did you keep Wemby out when you needed him most.” And I would bet good money that he didn’t tell the team to shift gears in the second half and slow it down for higher percentage looks around the basket because he didn’t want to ruin our vibes.
But fear is the fucking mind killer. A little more courage from Mitch would have turned us around, no questions asked. I’m just hoping he’ll learn from this as much as I know our young guns have already.
He ain’t gonna deliver shit
Yes he will. A championship for the Knicks.
I’m so hopeful they don’t play Harper 40 minutes. I hope for some unknown reason he stays on the bench in crunch time.
“People have their opinions, I don’t care. I will continue to not make adjustments and be thoroughly outcoached by Mike Brown.
yeah deliver the championship to the Knicks, pack some of your timeouts with it we know you aren’t gonna use them
“De’Aaron Fox will have the ball in his hands at the end of the game tomorrow and I have nothing but the utmost confidence that he’s gonna deliver like he’s done like three other times all year” FTFY
fk its over
What the fuck do you guys want a coach to say? In an elimination game no less kill his players confidence???
Congrats NY fans!
Absolutely insane. This guy is going to be the last human on earth to figure out that Harper >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> fox.
Fox was an all star this season. Harper averaged 11 ppg lmao
Fox is injured and has been hot steamy dogshit since returning.
All star means nothing.
Wiggins was an all star in 2022
Shout out to Wiggins tho
says person who clearly hasn’t watched the playoffs
Fox tried to be tough and intimidate Brunson. lol
People here have never coached man. When I coach I never kill my players for a mistake even if it costs the game because you’re going to have to rely on them again. Yeah they are high schoolers but having a coaches trust helps players.
If Kat doesn’t get his fingertips on Harper’s inbound pass we’d be talking about the great play he drew up to win the game.
Starters aren’t playing the 4th Mitch
CONGRATUALTIONS TO THE NEW YORK KNICKS FOR WINNING THE NBA FINALS.
This made me sick to write
has he really delivered that much? Hes talking about him like hes Tony Parker
Tbf is he supposed to say that he doesn’t believe in his player right before an elimination game.
I would have just stopped it at the “We trust our guy” but yes it is a meaningless quote
Ya he has, hes been that guy all year where he reigns stuff in when its getting a little out of control. he just failed game 4, sometimes you fail.
Knicks will be up by 25, and Jordan McLaughlin will have the ball in his hands at the end.
We are all counting on it as well Mitch 🍾🍾🍾🍾
clown 1 supporting clown 2
As opposed to publicly shitting on your star player before an elimination game in the finals?
You clearly have no idea how the world works
Young coach isn’t benching their max vet player that they traded for. Just not happening. Spurs and Spurs fans will have to live and die with Fox at the end of games
Fox literally helped the spurs win game 3
This place is emotional and reactionary. It’s shocking anyone takes anything said in this sub seriously
harper should have way more touches to SCORE. harpers the most dynamic downhill guard on the team, dont make him rot in the corner.
fox should focus on bringing the ball up and playmaking instead of calling his own number over and over.
And that’s why he sucks at coaching
Nice so he’s gonna be dribbling it out final possession while the Knicks are up 20
I’ll never forgive fox but I like that answer from Mitch
“countless” means unable to count them. Have there been any? Like, a single time?
Aka here New York 🎁
Why was Harper throwing that last pass in then instead of Fox?
The spurs and their coach are so unlikable
It makes no sense to pin the blame on Fox. Wemby, coach, and the entire team blew a 29 point lead. They would not be where they are if not for Fox.
They screwed up big time, a nice team effort.
Both Mitch Johnson and Fox are represented by Klutch. That’s the political side of it no-one brings up.
Knicks in 5 confirmed
MY brain = “Wow, he just lost.”
Fox should gave the ball in his hands in late game situation. But they run some plays or actions, not just run down the clock and run one screen
I have to give him some type of credit for letting Fox know that he still trusts him. I think that does a ton for his confidence going forward, we’re going to see if it works out in his favour or not.
bro is so fired
Fox was a dumbass but we saw how the spurs struggled when fox wasn’t playing. Turnovers left and right like crazy.
I mean you’re stuck with him until the offseason anyways… I wonder which team will give up a 2nd to get him this offseason
Why is Fox still considered trustworthy as the main ball handler in end of quarters/clutch situations ? I’m not just talking about the one play, he just fucks up most of the time
He had the big shot in game 3 and a 3 in game 4 to go up 7 when no one could hit anything. I’d love to see the ball in someone else’s hands though just to see what happens lol
Cool, he fucked very possessions he had in the last 5 minutes last game. And yeah, I’d love to see Harper get the ball (and some playing time) in clutch situations, just to see what happens too.
I don’t remember a good possession by anyone on the Spurs in the last 5 minutes tbh
True. Still, Fox was the main ball handler and the only ones attacking the rim in the 4th quarter were Castle and… Harper. Would’ve been nice to see him more on the floor !
Of course the incompetent coach is gonna trot his scapegoat out there again
Its over
When Brunson and Alvarado are both on the floor at the end, you should give it to Castle. Those guys have to foul him, and with his limited opportunities in the 4th quarter that’s exactly what happened (and he made his FTs).
Another coach defending his player vs. the Knicks. In the ECF, it was the Cavs coach defending James Harden’s defense. Now Johnson defending Fox here. Not saying he’s wrong but you have to make adjustments. Fox has made mistakes down the stretch in games. Harper has been the hot Spur along with Castle. Maybe one of them should get looks in those final two minutes.
Mitch looks like he hasn’t slept at all
The 213th firing should probably stick then
Let’s also remember the difference between how the Spurs looked with and without Fox against the Thunder
GOOD.
The morons that want fox traded need to be silenced
If fox doesn’t come back in the OKC series, it would have been an OKC/Knicks final.
Bro said “unfortunately we still gotta show up and play tomorrow”
I get the sentiment, but he said a little too much here.
Fox is not 100% that much is clear. But he is also a very overrated player. That max contract is gonna hurt us badly.
Chat we’re cooked
Pops would never blow a 29-point lead
Spurs fans did not like that
I love it
Man I love this guy
Fox screwed up big time, but it’s the coach’s fault for the loss. There’s no way Spurs players just decided they would idiotically shoot premature threes while missing most of them instead of running out the clock and taking the ball into the paint without Mitch’s input. Ultimately on him in my opinion.
“Play hard”
This dude gets a one year probation period if they lose. Can’t fire a coach that took one of the youngest teams in history to the Finals
I think you can count the times he has delivered.
Kind of same speech as Ken Atkinson but dumber
Well, the Spurs are going to lose then. I hate stubborn coaches. lakers had to fire del Harris so Kobe can play. That and trade Eddie jones. I think Harper can be that good
That thought process might be why you have blown a couple of winnable games Mitch. Maybe as the coach you should remind your guys that time is on their side and they can use up the clock. Maybe you could tell them that with such a huge lead they should be going for higher percentage shots and not showboating 3s. But seeing as you totally don’t look at social media this advice is pointless.
Was half asleep reading that and at first I read that as people have their phones I don’t care
I’ll let SAS fans do the talking on this one…. hahaha
It still gives them more possessions (i.e. more margin for error). With the increased number of possessions, the Spurs are still probably better off extending the lead they have at any given point by taking shots, even if they’re scoring at a lower rate in the second half.
Should they have wasted almost all of the shot clock on their possessions before taking shots? Yes. Would they have won if they had simply taken shot clock violations every possession for the last 8 minutes? Likely not.
At some point it really could be a legitimate strategy and it was close here, but it wasn’t there. If just your possessions can run out the clock (or only give the other team a few seconds per possession), then sure.
Fire them both.
Johnson is ready to retire.
Nothing else to say at this point can’t be like yea Fox is trash and I hate having to play him here lol
As a Knicks fan, this sounds great
D Fox literally helped the spurs win game 3 but no one was talking about that lol. Fox is better than Harper and anyone who thinks otherwise is a fucking moron and should go watch golf
I’m actually going to scream
This is the moment when it matters and he’s proven to me he doesn’t have the ability to deliver in that moment TWICE now. What’s the fucking point??? Play Harper in the clutch
Dude sounds and coaches like Doc Rivers lol
That’s good, because he’ll be their next head coach.
We spurs fans do NOT have confidence in you Mitch.
Fox is getting most of the blame but man its this mf that deserves all types of blame.
Timeouts? Non-existent, Challenges? No thank you, Cold shooting streak? Keep chucking 3s, Sending double with your DPOY primary guarding in clutch situation? HELL YEAH
The funny thing here is that if Fox made the layup, and OG didn’t get to Brunson’s miss, the narrative will totally be different. Brunson will be a choker who took a way long three against 2 defenders including Wemby.
Only Fox ever delivered was getting sonned by a washed up Warriors team when they were the higher seed