Sean Sweeney doesn’t buy the easy explanation for San Antonio’s Finals collapse.
The former Spurs associate head coach, now the Orlando Magic head coach, said youth may have played a part in the five-game loss to the New York Knicks, but he pushed back on the idea that it was the main reason the series got away.
“You could maybe say some youth to that, but like you don't do what you did and just all of a sudden become young,” Sweeney said during an appearance on The Ryen Russillo Show.
That view lines up with what the Spurs had already done on the way to the NBA Finals. This was not a team that wilted the first time the lights got bright. San Antonio knocked out a Minnesota Timberwolves group chasing a third straight Western Conference Finals trip, closing that series with a 139-109 win in Game 6 on the road.
Then came a harder test. The Spurs climbed back from a 3-2 deficit against the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, forced a Game 7 with a 118-91 win, and then finished the job at Paycom Center, 111-103.
Oklahoma City was without Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell for Game 7, but San Antonio still delivered in the closing stretch of an elimination game. Seven Spurs scored in double figures. Julian Champagnie led the way with 20 points and six triples, while Stephon Castle added 16 points, six rebounds and six assists.
That’s the part that makes Sweeney’s point hard to ignore: this group had already shown it could handle pressure.
The Knicks series told a different story. San Antonio led by double digits in every Finals game, then lost four of them. New York clawed back in each of its wins, including a 29-point rally in Game 4.
Sweeney said the loss came down to more than one thing.
“I think there's a little attrition having to go through the previous series,” he said. “Two, bad luck. They told me if the games were like 46 minutes or whatever, we would've won 4-1.”
He also said the Spurs were sloppier against New York than they had been during the Western Conference playoffs.
That matches Dylan Harper’s postseries read. Harper said the Spurs needed more clarity when games tightened up.
“I think the biggest thing is probably closing out games, and I think just knowing exactly what we're gonna do in certain times,” Harper told RG's DJ Siddiqi.
San Antonio has already started working toward that next layer of chemistry. De'Aaron Fox recently hosted an offseason workout at his home gym in Katy, Texas, with Victor Wembanyama, Harrison Barnes and free-agent addition Tobias Harris. For Harris, it was an early chance to get on the floor with several players who will matter next season.
The Spurs proved they could survive the biggest moments by taking down Oklahoma City in Game 7.
Now the offseason is about figuring out why that edge disappeared against New York.
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