The 2026 NBA Finals concluded with raw emotion and brutal honesty in San Antonio. While the New York Knicks were emotional on the floor at the end of a half-century title drought, the emotions were different inside the San Antonio locker room. Immediately following the tight 94-90 Game 5 loss at the Frost Bank Center, Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson had to replay all the mistakes, the misses, and failures for an incident report to the media. What came was a very candid assessment of his young roster’s performance, anchored by Victor Wembanyama.

Rather than consoling his players or maybe showing a bitter display over officiating complaints, Johnson flatly stated that his team simply did not earn the right to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy.

“There’s a lot that goes into it, but the simple consistency is we didn’t deserve to win the games,” Johnson confessed.

“There’s a lot of level of execution. There could be rebounding, there can be end-of-game details. There can be starting a game where you get the lead and then don’t sustain that. But NBA games are long. It happens during the regular season, too. It’s just everything’s much more on stage during the (NBA) Finals when everybody’s watching.”

That’s a critical admission of what was a recurring pattern throughout the series. Johnson was doomed to the sidelines, watching De’Aaron Fox go for a layup instead of dribbling out the clock during a single-point lead with 15 seconds left in Game 4. That play proved costly as the Spurs lost possession to the Knicks, who scored to register the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history. He also saw Wemby make a costly turnover and miss a potential game-winning buzzer-beater at home in Game 2.

Things could have been different had those two plays gone in the Spurs’ favor, with San Antonio possibly holding a 3-2 lead heading into Game 6. Even if San Antonio lucked out on one of the games, the NBA Finals would have seen a Game 6 with them needing a win in the Garden.

So, reflecting on the team’s mistakes, Johnson graciously admitted the Knicks deserved the win.

“We weren’t ready to win an NBA championship. The better team won. We did a lot of good things, and we didn’t finish the job. And that’s what it is.”

When reporters asked Johnson what he ultimately wished his defense had done differently across the series to alter the outcome against the newly crowned Finals MVP Jalen Brunson, the Coach of the Year finalist offered a blunt admission:

“Make him score less points.”‘

Brunson punished San Antonio, top-scoring in four games. He finished just a single point behind Karl-Anthony Towns in Game 2. Game 5 saw him torch San Antonio with a historic 45-point masterpiece, a dominant closeout display that thoroughly exposed the defensive limitations of the Western Conference champions.

Refusing to shield Wembanyama, De’Aaron Fox, or the rest of the roster from the reality of the defeat, Johnson broke down the execution failures that plagued the team throughout their postseason collapse.

Spurs’ mistakes could set the tone for Victor Wembanyama’s future

Mitch Johnson’s frustration is the same as what Spurs fans have felt throughout the postseason: their struggle to maintain leads under intense pressure. As he said, this flaw was magnified on the sport’s biggest stage. The most glaring example occurred during Game 4’s historic collapse, where Wemby & Co. surrendered a massive 29-point advantage after leading 81-52 with 9:40 remaining in the third.

And Wemby admitted the Spurs weren’t “hungry” enough to sustain the lead.

In Game 5, the trend repeated itself as the Spurs built an early 10-point lead after the first quarter. This was reduced to five points at the end of the first half. Though the Spurs increased it to seven points to close out the third quarter 72-65, they watched it evaporate under a relentless 15-point (of his 45-point masterclass) final quarter barrage orchestrated entirely by Jalen Brunson.

While the loss brought a sombre end to the season, this Finals run remains an astronomical leap forward for the franchise.

These Finals will provide Wembanyama, Dylan Harper, Stephon Castle, and Fox with the essential experience required for long-term championship longevity.

Now, by taking full accountability for the tactical shortcomings instead of shifting blame, Johnson, on his own for the first time without Gregg Popovich, is setting realistic standards for a future Spurs blueprint and its long-awaited return to basketball glory.