SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs knew how badly they blew it. The metal door to their locker room deep under the stands wasn’t strong enough to hold out the reality of their situation. The stench of their performance seeped through the slim opening underneath, wafting around the locker room. There was no respite from the disappointment.
Advertisement
They had just opened Game 3 of the Western Conference finals with a 15-0 run, nearly an NBA record. They talked so much about combating the Oklahoma City Thunder’s relentless physicality by being the ones to hit first. They struck right away, then played the rest of the night on their back foot as they lost convincingly.
De’Aaron Fox felt Friday’s Game 3 was one of the worst games they had all season from a mentality standpoint after that opening run. For him, the way they lost the game hurt more than actually losing the game.
So when that metal door opened again, it wasn’t a surprise when he saw who was walking through that door. It was time for El Jefe to send a message.
“Pop came in after the game; it was actually the first time that he came into the locker room and spoke after a game,” Fox said. “So he saw it. We all saw it. We all felt it.”
Carter Bryant recently told The Athletic that former Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, now the president of basketball operations and unofficially labeled El Jefe, often calls Bryant so fast after games that Bryant is still in the locker room getting changed.
Apparently, Popovich decided it was time to do things in person. Fox said Popovich’s message to the team was that its performance was “BS.”
“You cannot leave the floor saying I wish, could have, should have, at this point of the season,” Spurs center Bismack Biyombo told The Athletic of Popovich’s speech. “I think that’s my takeaway from that message, because everybody’s banged up at this point of the season. Everybody’s dealing with something. If it’s not physical, it’s mental.”
Simply put, be better.
“Nothing more, nothing less,” Bryant told The Athletic after the Spurs beat the Thunder on Sunday 103-82 to tie the series at 2-2. “I mean, it’s a direct message, and the best thing when you’re in a situation like this is a direct message. So to us, we had to be better, we came out executing and we saw the outcome (in Game 4).”
The Spurs’ comeback in this series did not just stem from better execution or a show of will. It was a touch of divine inspiration. They were busy on Sunday morning, so Mass came to them.
Advertisement
Seated courtside during warmups were the Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco, a group of Catholic nuns in San Antonio who have gone viral for cheering and praying for the Spurs throughout their playoff run from afar. It was time for them to bless the Spurs in person.
After his pregame warmup, Spurs center Luke Kornet, a devout Catholic who has his own blog that originally reviewed churches on the NBA circuit, received a blessing. He ended up finally having a solid game after struggling in this series.
“We have to fly them to OKC,” Kornet said. “We have to get them on the plane.”
a.showcase-link-container {
display: flex;
gap: 20px;
flex-direction: column;
align-items: center;
padding: 20px 0px;
border-top: 1px solid rgba(150, 150, 147, 0.4);
border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(150, 150, 147, 0.4);
text-decoration: none;
color: #121212;
cursor: pointer;
.showcase-link {
font-family: nyt-franklin;
font-size: 14px;
font-style: normal;
font-weight: 700;
line-height: 13.8px;
letter-spacing: 1.1px;
text-transform: uppercase;
}
.showcase-link-image {
border-radius: 8px;
object-fit: cover;
width: 200px;
height: 150px;
margin: 0px;
@media (max-width: 600px) {
width: 120px;
height: 120px;
}
}
.showcase-link-inner-content {
display: flex;
flex-direction: row;
gap: 16px;
width: 100%;
}
.showcase-link-text-content {
display: flex;
flex-direction: column;
gap: 20px;
justify-content: center;
@media (max-width: 600px) {
gap: 8px;
}
}
.showcase-link-title {
font-family: nyt-cheltenham;
font-size: 24px;
font-style: normal;
font-weight: 500;
line-height: 120%; /* 24px */
letter-spacing: 0.01px;
text-overflow: ellipsis;
overflow: hidden;
display: -webkit-box;
-webkit-box-orient: vertical;
-webkit-line-clamp: 3;
@media (max-width: 600px) {
font-size: 16px;
}
}
.showcase-link-excerpt {
font-family: nyt-imperial;
font-size: 16px;
font-style: normal;
font-weight: 400;
line-height: 139%; /* 19.46px */
color: #323232;
text-overflow: ellipsis;
overflow: hidden;
display: -webkit-box;
-webkit-box-orient: vertical;
-webkit-line-clamp: 4;
@media (max-width: 600px) {
font-size: 12px;
line-height: 121%;
}
}
}
.showcase-link-inputs {
.showcase-link-input {
width: 100%;
font-size: 1rem;
background-color: white;
margin-bottom: 12px;
}
.showcase-link-indent {
margin-left: 25px;
}
option {
width: 100%;
}
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
.native-mobile a.showcase-link-container {
background-color: #121212;
color: #f0f0ee;
.showcase-link-excerpt {
color: #c4c4c0;
}
}
}
// Remove all onclicks on imgs for apps to prevent image zoom on click
document.querySelectorAll(‘.showcase-link-image’).forEach((img) => img.removeAttribute(‘onclick’));
It’s tough to find extra room on the plane when you have the guy who takes up more leg room than anyone. Especially after this game. Victor Wembanyama really stretched his legs in this one.
With 22 points on 15 shots and six free throws in the first half, a relentless scorer lived up to the challenge that the MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, laid down in Game 3.
That’s Victor Wembanyama, the relentless scorer. Sounds weird, right? That sure doesn’t sound like Wemby. He’s the black hole that sucks everything up into his gravity. It usually all comes to him, and his job is more to fight to be in the space where gravity does its thing.
After Popovich reamed out the Spurs following Game 3, Wembanyama stepped to the podium and said they were about to find out what they were made of. They found out. This is what they have shown all year. They just needed another monstrous test to find their way back to themselves.
“I didn’t really wonder now because we didn’t do nothing unexpected, but the truth is that we had never been in this kind of situation before,” Wembanyama said after finishing with 33 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three blocks in Game 4. “It was our first deficit in a playoff series, and we just responded.”
When Popovich spoke to the Spurs, according to Biyombo, he made it clear that there is no game plan coach Mitch Johnson could give them at this point that was truly going to change things. They already know it all. It’s his job to get them ready and to select the right coverage from the menu at the right time, but there’s nothing novel at this point.
It’s really just up to you to make it happen.
Advertisement
“Now you just got to sit in front of the mirror and say, look, I got everything and I know what to do now. I just got to get out there and do it,” Biyombo said. “And that’s kind of the point and my takeaway from what Pop said.”
Johnson said from his perspective, Wembanyama felt an obligation to set the tone in a variety of ways, and his aggression was a reflection of that. “I think a lot of people say (he wants that obligation) and regardless of that, I think that’s what he wants,” Johnson said. “I think he wants that responsibility to be in the lead there, and he’s built for it.”
As Popovich, Tim Duncan and the Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco watched over him, he delivered. He showed who he and the Spurs truly are. Or at least who they are learning to be, in the hardest classroom the game has to offer.
After Game 3, Harrison Barnes told The Athletic that the Spurs needed to not rely on the magic of Wemby and find their way to dozens of good plays consistently over the course of the evening. That is the real mentality challenge in the playoffs. Not to get psyched up for one big play to try to swing the momentum. But by methodically inching the momentum in your direction throughout the evening. Staying locked in means never unlocking.
That’s what the Spurs did in that first half, as Wembanyama never stopped imposing his will. Then he threw up a Hail Mary from half court at the halftime buzzer, and the sisters’ prayers were answered. It was divine. It was magical. It was Wemby.
But the game wasn’t won on that exospheric jumper. It was the dozen stops he got on the other end that made sure the Thunder never found their offense again. A good win doesn’t have to be a spectacle. It just has to get the job done.
“It was nothing amazing. It wasn’t magic. We just did what we needed to do,” Wembanyama said. “The series is far from over. We got six more wins before we can rest.”