Up next in 10
This doesn't feel real.
The San Antonio Spurs blew a 29-point lead in Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
Yes, the New York Knicks deserve credit for refusing to quit.
But D.A. says this collapse belongs to San Antonio.
The mistakes were everywhere:
🏀 De'Aaron Fox's ball-handling and turnovers.
🏀 A stunning failure to simply hold the ball and get fouled while protecting a one-point lead with 14 seconds remaining.
🏀 A stubborn reliance on the three-pointer despite shooting just 3-for-17 from deep in the second half.
🏀 Lazy defensive possessions.
🏀 Poor late-game execution and play-calling.
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
The Spurs left the house unlocked all
0:02
weekend. They put their valuables on the
0:05
on the on the kitchen table. They left
0:07
the lights on and the doors wide open
0:11
and they went away for vacation, then
0:12
came back. They couldn't be surprised
0:14
that all their valuables had been
0:16
stolen. The San Antonio Spurs authored
0:19
one of the single biggest disaster
0:22
classes, a TED talk on holding on to a
0:25
lead. Imagine having a 29point lead in
0:29
the second half and deciding your best
0:32
vantage point, your your best strategy
0:34
to hold on to it on the road, by the
0:35
way, is to just keep chucking threes
0:38
when they're not falling. For as good as
0:40
the three-point shooting was in the
0:42
first half, the the Spurs shot three of
0:46
17 from beyond the ark. Every single one
0:49
of those shots should have been once
0:53
they realized they were not shooting
0:54
well, a drive to the basket to create
0:57
something closer to milk some clock to
1:00
be the aggressor. I mean, they they had
1:02
the Knicks on their heels to just keep
1:04
chucking from deep was such an
1:07
unbelievable display of low basketball
1:09
IQ. It wasn't falling. There was one
1:11
possession in the second half where the
1:13
Spurs shot three threepointers because
1:16
they had two offensive rebounds and
1:19
Wemby shot two of them. Imagine being
1:21
Victor Webbyama with a double-digit lead
1:24
on the road to the NBA finals and the
1:27
threes aren't falling and deciding
1:28
instead of being 75 and running rolling
1:30
to the basket, instead all you're doing
1:32
is chucking from deep early in the shot
1:34
clock. It is just unfathomable. And
1:37
that's nothing to even talk about with
1:39
De'aran Fox who throughout the entire
1:42
second half, especially fourth quarter
1:45
committed some of those mo most
1:46
mindbending, deplorable basketball plays
1:51
in holding a lead in league history.
1:53
Every single time De'aran Fox had the
1:56
ball, it seemed like he made a
1:59
disastrous decision highlighted by the
2:02
steal with 14 seconds to play and not
2:05
pulling it out and waiting to get fouled
2:08
to drive to the basket and then get
2:10
nothing out of that possession as OG
2:12
blocks the shot. There's no foul. The
2:14
only thing the Knicks could do there if
2:17
he would have just slowed it down and
2:18
pulled it out is foul. They didn't get
2:20
two free throws and you potentially are
2:22
up three.
2:23
It was again, I mean, enough to melt
2:26
your brain. And Mitch Johnson
2:29
just authored as a head coach the single
2:31
worst coached game in NBA Finals
2:33
history. I mean, you just you can't
2:35
argue with that because of the second
2:36
half. The lack of basketball instincts,
2:40
the lack of basketball adjustments, the
2:42
lack of basketball playmaking, De'ar Fox
2:44
just throwing lazy passes crosscourt and
2:47
getting it picked off or thrown out of
2:49
bounds, him dribbling it off of his
2:51
feet, him taking, you know, uh, 75% of
2:53
the shot clock by just messing around at
2:55
the top of the arc and then having to
2:57
basically just chuck it from the top of
2:59
the of the three-point arc. All of it is
3:02
maddening. It is absolutely maddening
3:03
and you'll just never see a team
3:07
contribute more to their own demise than
3:09
game four of the 2026 NBA Finals than
3:12
the San Antonio Spurs. They they can
3:14
join the Atlanta Falcons in 28-3 in the
3:18
Super Bowl as teams that actively had to
3:21
participate in their own demise. if they
3:24
would have just played a smarter brand
3:27
of offense, especially once they
3:30
realized they'd gone ice cold from
3:31
beyond the ark. Basically, the stats,
3:34
the numbers, the data tells you there
3:35
just wasn't enough possessions for the
3:38
the Knicks to come back, but they had to
3:41
actively participate in their own
3:44
demise. And again, much like the Falcons
3:46
where if you're just running the
3:48
football up the middle and grinding
3:50
clock, there's not enough timeouts.
3:51
there's not enough time on the clock,
3:53
literally for the the Patriots to make
3:55
uh uh some type of comeback. It was the
3:58
way that I felt watching the second
3:59
half, especially the fourth quarter of
4:01
this NBA Finals game. The San Antonio
4:03
Spurs deserve everything they got,
4:05
everything. And you certainly can't do
4:07
that against a good team like the
4:08
Knicks. You certainly can't do that
4:10
against a Knicks team that has kind of
4:12
now built its own um reputation for
4:15
fourth quarter comebacks, but you really
4:17
can't do it in the NBA finals with your
4:19
season on the brink. You are a botched
4:23
fourth quarter largely second half up 29
4:26
away from having seized control of the
4:29
NBA Finals and instead you punted it
4:31
away and they are done. They are toast.
4:33
This thing is over in five. They will
4:34
have no ability to come off the mat in
4:37
game number five. It was as
4:40
embarrassing, as humiliating as any
4:43
performance in the NBA finals you'll
4:45
ever see. It's one thing to just, you
4:47
know, end up getting smoked because
4:49
you're not a you're not up to that par.
4:51
the teams, you know, that got trounced
4:54
by elite squads like the 86 Celtics or
4:57
the 2000 Lakers, uh, teams that just
5:00
were not up to snuff when it came to
5:02
their competition that, you know, those
5:03
might have been quick series and blowout
5:06
games, but this Spurs team is good
5:08
enough to have gone up 29 on the road
5:11
against the Knicks and nearly win both
5:13
at Madison Square Garden. We missing
5:16
both those free throws late. I mean,
5:18
every single part of this was a self
5:21
mutilation. Every single part of this
5:23
was a was an implosion. And the Knicks
5:28
didn't even shoot that well late third
5:31
quarter, early fourth quarter. That lead
5:34
hovered around 15
5:37
for a while because even though the
5:39
Spurs were not hitting any shots and had
5:41
some terrible turnovers, the Knicks
5:43
couldn't capitalize. It was only when
5:45
the Knicks started to chip away after
5:47
that 15-point lead became 11, became
5:49
nine, and once they got it to single
5:50
digits, you knew the bottom was going to
5:52
drop out. And once it got to like five,
5:54
it was over. It was a wrap. The Spurs
5:56
were not going to win cuz they are not
5:58
mentally tough enough. We should be
6:01
embarrassed. He shot very poorly in this
6:03
game. Darren Fox has goat horns forever.
6:06
That is um that is Nick Anderson missing
6:09
four free throws in the NBA Finals, but
6:10
worse because it's not just jitters.
6:13
That's every possession that you held
6:14
the ball. I mean, every single thing.
6:17
And Mitch Johnson, I mean, should never
6:19
live this down. Ever. Ever. Just like
6:22
Dan Quinn should never live down the
6:23
Super Bowl being up 28 to3. You should
6:25
never live this down. It was again a
6:28
master class, a TED talk
6:30
in trying to participate in your own
6:36
collapse at the most critical juncture
6:38
of the season.
#Sports