Luke Kornet added to injury report ahead of game 5 with an illness
https://www.threads.com/@yahoosports/post/DZgTD5blVwY?xmt=AQG0w_IyvwcQm2pR_jrQzjHnkIvvzl7KYWLAsvSK9ai5mIfP8ep4RDhyFJm_FqR37Ffa2oVW&slof=1
Hard to believe Kornet wouldn’t play tomorrow, but if not, Wemby might be in for another 40+ minute night.
Not like he’d play more than 4 min
Wemby gets tired at the end of games, they need kornet to atleast let him rest
Seems like something they should have done in game 4 when they were up by over 20 points
Mitch would probably get sacked at the spot if they blow this lead while Wemby is sitting
So instead they blow the lead with Wemby playing almost the entire game?
Yes. They were up 20 with 9 mins to go in the 4th quarter after Wemby put up bricks-for-habitat-for-humanity numbers. Playing Kornet longer would’ve made their lead shrink faster.
Maybe their lead shrank because their game plan in the second half was to spam Wemby iso against KAT? I can’t count how many times I saw Castle, Harper and Fox just pass to Wemby for an iso even though he was cold and they had been cooking. Maybe with Kornet in the game, the ball moves more freely and they stay in rhythm from 3 and take more time off the clock.
Mitch Johnson has been utter trash this series.
Harper is one of the strongest downhill players on the floor, surely you try and use some actions to get him turning the corner and hitting the paint..
lol, wouldn’t the fix here be to avoid Wemby isos, or at least possessions that don’t end in him attacking the rim? Why would the fix be to have Kornet in? Especially since the Knicks were already scoring at ease.
Every coach deserves to get fired for the dumbest reasons to yall. The lead would’ve still shrunk with Kornet in and then people would say resting Wemby killed the Spurs’ momentum. I’ve played these games before.
I mean, it’s both. It’s also calling timeouts at end of game situations, not playing Fox and Champ together in crunch time when they needed defense. It’s a whole bunch of stuff. Who do you think is responsible for those calls?
Clearly not you. If you were in charge, Spurs would be tied 2-2 that’s for sure!
You say it now because we know the result , but Mitch actually tried to sit Wemby but had to send him back because Knicks were hooping.
If they sat Wemby and result would be same as last game , Mitch would have been trolled for not playing Wemby 48 mins.
He needed to be out on the floor pointing to his temple screaming he’s in their heads.
And the Knicks have gone on a 14-3 run in under three minutes!
They could go small but Bryant has been a bit rough
You’d have to do a small lineup against Robinson most likely since KAT would just feast small ball Spurs
You can guard Kat with a guy like Carter Bryant. Kat might feast on the boards though. Same issue with Mitch really.
Bryant would probably do a better job on KAT than Kornet. KAT has been cooking him in the limited times he’s been on him, KAT’s been too quick and athletic for him. At least in Games 1 and 2 I saw a lot of KAT blowing by him to the basket or keeping him out and passing the ball to someone under the rim.
Genuinely tho if Kornet was on the court for that OG put back there’s a decent chance it never even happens
Are we getting Kelly Olynyk minutes in the 2026 NBA Finals?
They played him for all but 1 minute of the second half. He gets tired and there isn’t a plan to find breaks for him.
Except Wemby was noticeably tired at the end of the game. Have to imagine part of the Spurs strategy - especially if they’re up again - was to get Wemby more rest so he’s fresh for the last 5-10 minutes.
His net rating is a -14.3 in the fourth
The issue is Kornet’s getting played off the court
He hasn’t done anything the entire playoffs to be honest. The only thing he’s done of note was the block in OKC. Plumlee,Biyombo or Olynk can do what Korent has done all playoffs and just be standing on the court.
I hope the nuns pray for him to get back in full health, if not……
return of the bismack
Bitch sit down
Biyombo
On an old account I made a comment like this in a game thread and got an account warning for threatening violence
Blessing in disguise
the iron chancellor Otto von Bismack
Return of the (Bis)Mack
Yep that’s the joke
I remember that white dude who made that song, I thought he was black initially before watching the full video
It’s not like Mitch knows the concept of players becoming fatigued.
Fatigue is just a construct pushed by big rest
Thibs was actually woke
Fatigue is just weakness leaving the body
what’s the joke?
You guys spread such bullshit.
Mitch spent all season rotating and resting guys. In fact half of reddit was arguing that Wemby doesn’t deserve to be in MVP consideration if he plays less than 30mpg.
But in the playoffs, we have seen consistently that teams go on massive runs the moment Wemby steps off the floor. And it happens every single game.
Luke is not a ‘bad’ backup C. In fact he was very good in the regular season. But all of Minny, OKC and NY immediately target the paint the moment he is on, and he is clearly not good enough this deep into the playoffs - and the same happened in Boston. (Where his minutes were cut even more drastically in their Championship run).
And we don’t have anybody else who can provide adequate minutes: FOR THE THOUSANDTH TIME because no reasonable person expected us to be a Finals team this year.
There just isnt any ‘safe’ time to rest Wemby against the Knicks. I suspect we tried (subconsciously) to push so hard in the 1st Half because of our experiences against both OKC and Minnesota, who gave up on multiple occasions down the stretch, and there was probably a hope that if we could maintain such a big league in the 3rd NY might do the same - and that would be the only chance for Wemby to get any rest this series.
Obviously that didn’t work out - but rest Wemby more in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, and the lead almost certainly gets cut back much sooner and we still lose anyway.
There is no good answer to this right now.
I’m all for playing him as much minutes a possible, but you can’t play the guy almost the entire 2nd half knowing his stamina isnt the greatest and expect him to perform in the 4th quarter. Sub him out and play slow, use the entire 24 shot clock per possession if you have to. Waste as much time as possible instead of chucking early shot clock 3s. Call a time out after so he gets extended rest. Do anything to extend real time rest for him. Anything is better than just letting him play the entire 2nd half which for sure will result to your lead getting smaller anyway cause he gassed.
I think he already tries that, but the Knicks runs happen to so quickly that everyone immediately starts calling for him to put Wemby back out on the floor.
Yes Mitch got outcoached by Brown, and yes he made mistakes- but so much of this nitpicking is just with the benefit of hindsight.
And lets not actually like everyone wasn’t criticising Brown for the exact opposite thing in game 3 when he kept the bench guys on the floor at the end of the 3rd/start of the 4th to give Brunson a rest and the Spurs pulled out a lead that they never gave up.
You are correct. I don’t think people fully appreciate the coaching conundrum that Mitch is in. He basically knows that his Wemby lineups will win their minutes.. provided Wemby has gas in the tank.
So it’s a situation where he has to not only guess how many minutes Wemby can play close to 100%, but also how long he can keep Wemby off the floor without putting the team in a losing position. This can also look like having Wemby and the Spurs shoot from the perimeter to extend the Wemby window and conserve stamina for defense. Seems pretty fucking tricky to me.
The answers might seem obvious to reddit coaches, but I imagine this is tough stuff, especially with a young team that is still figuring things out as they go.
Dude y’all were up by 29 at half. Up 20 with 8 minutes left. Wemby could have rested more than 5 minutes
And it would’ve then just been a 10 pt lead with 8 minutes left and NY would’ve caught up much sooner/easier.
All of these arguments are with the benefits of hindsight.
You don’t know that. Wemby could have rested more in the first half when they were on fire from 3 and New York looked completely out of it. There were plenty of opportunities because they were up so much. It may or may not have changed the outcome, but it at least gives Wemby some much needed rest.
So the half time lead would’ve been 18 instead of 28.
Yeah, “I don’t know that” - but you definitely don’t know the opposite.
And in fact we have much more evidence through the last 3 rounds of the playoffs that supports my view that the Knicks would go on a run the moment Wemby is off the floor. Kornet is -20 in less than 30 total minutes this series. He just isn’t playable against a very well drilled Knicks team.
I’m not claiming a different outcome, you are. You just can’t admit that giving Wemby rest and losing is still better than not giving Wemby rest and losing.
I am saying that you guys are ignoring that Mitch didn’t have a better option (as we have seen all series) and you guys are making up dumb arguments in hindsight - and if he rested Wemby and we lost, you would be on here making the opposite argument that “your best player needs to play all 4th quarter” - again, the exact same argument people were making about Brown after the Knicks lost game 3.
I never said anything about resting Wemby in the 4th, but it’s ridiculous that he couldn’t get more rest in a game where they were up 29 at half.
Because then that wouldn’t have been a 29pt lead and NY would’ve got back into the game much earlier.
Have you actually watched any of Kornets minutes in the last 3 rounds?
Analytically, fatigue doesn’t actually exist.
Actually really funny realizing he’s kind of thibs like now that you mention thus
Part of the issue is that Spurs rotation after their starters kinda sucks. Maybe it’s just that Mitch could use them better, but Kornet is probably the LVP these playoffs in terms of his impact for simply being “not-Wemby,” 6MOTY Keldon Johnson has played like “6 minutes a game” Keldon Johnson, Carter Bryant has been overall fine but would probably be the same level of sub as Clarkson on the Knicks. Harper’s their only playable bench guy for any kind of long stretches, and they have no size besides Wemby and Kornet (who has played awful.)
They’re a 6.25 man rotation between the starters, Harper, and the 3 blind mice of Kornet, Bryant, and Johnson
Bryant does his job well enough at least. He wouldn’t be featured much, if at all, in the Knicks (or fully healthy Thunder) rotations, but he’s not horrible. Johnson and Kornet have been so bad though.
Spurs have no frontcourt depth. They barely have a frontcourt besides Wemby.
No??? His bench just genuinely sucks. Keldon can’t score right now since he’s used to boddying smaller, worse defensive players, but against good teams it doesn’t really work, his shooting isn’t good either, and the defense isn’t great too. Carter bryant makes some dumb mistakes and he doesn’t really have any gravity. Barnes is out of the rotation since he’s just too slow and weak and isn’t as athletic anymore. That just leaves Kornet who’s getting killed out there. Other than their top 9-10 guys, who else is gonna play? Jordan Mclaughlin??? Wemby has to play that many minutes or they get killed with the kornet minutes.
The Knicks bench sucked last year. Mitch was hurt a lot of the year and so the center rotation was crazy, shamet was hurt for a long stretch too
Yeah, it did suck, but, even in the regular season the good starters were playing like 1000 minutes a game.
Precious Achiuwa was getting like 20 minutes a night
Play hard.
When does the GM get blame for a god awful bench?
20pt lead is clearly not big enough to rest Wemby
He will play.
He’ll look like a roadkill opossum, but he’ll be on the floor
They’re trying to psych you guys out
The Spurs will lose regardless
You still lost?
The thing I love about Reddit is how many pathetic losers will stalk for hours off over one single comment lmfao, I ignored your dm because I’m not gay but you can try someone else
Wemby’s not sitting out any meaningful minute of his last game this season.
He has 3 more games though
I dont think the Galveston rec league scrimmages count
I’m talking about the next 3 games they’re playing to win the Finals
Does the Galveston summer men’s league have a finals? I thought it was just informal runs to stay warm
Why so many dislikes? Do people actually want to see the Knicks win so the fans can burn down the city and jump more innocent people?
Kornet has been a good backup big in the regular season; and I know this would affect the Spurs a bit, but does it matter all that much even if he is out? The drop off might be a bit more steep, but the drop off from Wemby to not-Wemby, even if he was the best backup Center in the league, is already so vast.
I like Castle and Harper and don’t have a raging hate for Fox like a lot of people (he reminds me of a bit better prime Zach Lavine, so not great/not worth his contrct, but not a horrible player by any mean,) but the Spurs are a play-in team/maybe six seed at best with almost any Center but Wemby. Him being out there is so important for their defensive identity, he basically is their defensive identity.
I don’t think it matters that much. If Kornet was playing at level where he was providing 12 minutes of solid work so that Wemby could rest, then I’d say this is a huge deal.
But we haven’t really seen that from him
He’s been so bad that being an overall net positive in 40+ Wemby minutes leads to close games and outright losses because the team collapses when he’s on the court.
It’s also because he’s simply not Wembanyama and whoever is behind him could even maybe do worse, but he’s been horrible.
Agreed. He’s probably not even that bad of a player in isolation, but the Spurs in playoff ball are Wemby. I didn’t really fully grasp this until you mentioned they’d be close to an 8 seed with an average NBA center.
Damnit. Now I’m scared for the state of the NBA when the Spurs upgrade. Wemby is OP
During the regular season Kornet, to me, looked like one of the better backup centers in the league. The issue is, in the playoffs, especially this deep, you’re only playing fellow elite teams. And when what makes your team truly elite is one player (Castle and Harper, and Fox, are good and improving for the former two, but not elite,) there isn’t a backup in the league who is going to cover for the minutes he’s not on the floor.
Didn’t the Kornet lineup go like 11-0 or something on us early in game 1? He isn’t inept or anything, I think they’d miss his size if he wasn’t 100% playing through this.
That was the only time it’s been good in the WCF or Finals (can’t speak for true T-Wolves series I barely watched,) he’s been overall been very bad.
Ever since the magic city debacle he’s never been the same. He’s gonna be out of the league soon. That’s what happens when you fuck with ATL hoe.
Play Barnes fuk it
I mean that’s probably the play right? Without Kornet, they’re better off just going with a small ball lineup for the non Wemby minutes.
Known playoff chocker Barnes will sure strike fear in Mike Brown.
If Wemby plays 40+ minutes they’ll lose.
Luke Kornet flu game?
We’ll see which flu game has more staying power in the record books of history.
38/7/5 game coming up.
He’s inside Mitchell Robinson’s head too
He saw the level of hot outfits that women wear in NYC once June hits and got sick to his stomach. Expect a blog about how they are manipulated into this soon.
Wemby playing all 48.
Easy win for Knicks
Probably for the best. Dude is getting cooked out there
He had one hell of a block vs OKC, remember?
That was what I thought about with the OG run down on Fox, same vibes.
I forgot what an injury report looked like
Wemby was gonna play 48 minutes anyways
He’s played like 5 minutes this whole series
This has no effect on anything
That’s 5 minutes of rest for Wemby.
Get ready to play another 48 minutes kid
Awww
This is devastating to New York
Half of the Knicks have been sick this series. I’m sure it passes around.
Have they? I haven’t heard about that
Brown too
Yea, I think it was after game 2 it came out Jalen was sick. I thought maybe they were hiding a more severe knee injury, but seems like a bug is running through the finals.
Mason Plumlee legacy game
I assume that none of them are good anymore, but it’s interesting to me that Spurs carry 3 veteran bigs - Olynk, Plumlee, Biyombo - on their roster who won’t see the court and are just there for vet presence. I can understand carrying 1, maybe 2 but 3 seems ott.
Considering how ineffectual Kornet has been at times, is it simply true that those 3 are all too washed to get any court time? And which one of them is most likely to see minutes if Kornet misses Game 5?
Wait a sec, Luka Doncic played through illness in the playoffs against minnasota and got slandered I better see the same treatment for Kornet
Jordan played with the flu and got immortalized for it
They have three other centers to play lol
Let’s be real: Biyombo is a culture guy, Olynyk hasn’t been relevant in a few years, and Plumlee is…a body
They have 3 other centers, but how many of them can play? I guess it’s KO and BB?
Analytically maybe
Plumgod!!
Ok, egg head has to play more minutes
This is bc Knicks fans hit him with eggs?
Fine with me 🥚🥚🥚
Barely impacts anything. I guess if Wemby gets in foul trouble this hurts them, but he only plays like 4-5 mins normally
Dude might as well not even be playing. He’s been unplayable for them this series.
Let’s go Mason plumbee
Wemby looked really fatigued at the end of G1 and G4. They really need Kornet to play. I think, in general, they need more back up bigs next season regardless. Wemby is really good for the first 30 minutes he plays, and struggles beyond minute 32. You don’t really want him playing 40 minutes. But this team just doesn’t have much in the way of quality big guys that can come off the bench.
They do get 2 days between each game the rest of the series but it’s hard to imagine Wemby isn’t pretty exhausted at this point in the playoffs.
Kornet is in for a Dirk-Flu legacy game
To God’s ears buddy
the spurs might as well just give up
Skipping school on the last day
He’s got the heeby jeebies.
Sucks for the Knicks.
So finally Mitch is put in a position to be creative and play Bryant, Biyombo or Olynyk? This is bad news for us. Predictability tends to favor the veteran savvy Knicks
C Plumlee
PF Olynyk
SF Biyombo
SG Wemby
PG Fox
Just overwhelm them with size
Good, let’s try Harrison Barnes.
Probably a net positive for SA if he doesn’t play. He’s been such a negative on offense and defense against OKC (aside from the block on Hartenstein, though you could also say the turnover that led to that was Kornet’s fault in the first place because he didn’t seal/meet the ball in the air on the pass and let it get tipped) and NY.
I know he hasn’t played a lot but at this point they should think about going to Olynyk. Kornet already is a 0 on defense against the Knicks so it’s not like Olynyk would be worse and then at least Olynyk gives you the chance to make up the difference on offense with his spacing. The goal should just be for the non-Wemby minutes to be even
Anti-womanitis
Magic City sends its regards