The Bounce Newsletter 
| This is The Athletic’s daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox.
On this date in 1981, Julius Erving won the NBA MVP, becoming the only player to win the MVP award in both the ABA and the NBA. While memories might be fading, the ABA was highly influential to the modern NBA game. Erving won three straight ABA MVPs in 1974, 1975 and 1976. Then he added NBA MVP in 1981, reminding everybody of the immense talent that performed in the ABA.
Advertisement
Thunder struck
SGA, Chet put OKC one win from finals
Even while battling the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference finals, the San Antonio Spurs may have had it a little too easy. Their foray into title contention has been sudden and impactful, as Victor Wembanyama has looked like he’s ready to take over the NBA now. The thought of jumping from out of playoffs last year, including the Play-In Tournament, to the NBA Finals, however, is audacious.
Throughout the history of the NBA, eventual champions and rulers of the league have had to take some small steps instead of one big leap. Just look at the Thunder. They jumped from a non-playoff team to the No. 1 seed in the West in one season. However, they lost in the second round before figuring out how to win the championship the next season. And now they’re fighting to end this run of parity that Adam Silver has been loving about the NBA.
Last night, the Thunder showed their championship resolve and the lessons from the steps of the previous two years. They were missing Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell but managed to take down the Spurs 127-114. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander still struggled to make shots; he went 7-of-19 and is now shooting 38.7 percent from the field in this series. But he made 16-of-17 from the foul line and totaled 32 points. Chet Holmgren had his best game of the series with 16 points and 11 rebounds, and he even took it to Wemby a few times.
The Thunder reminded the Spurs that this isn’t just some fun ascension. This is a task that happens in the mud. They held Wemby to 4-of-15 shooting, though he went 12-of-12 from the line. He was apparently so frustrated that he declined to speak to the media following the game, which means he has to bring it in Game 6 to extend the series. You can’t duck the postgame presser when you’re the star, even if you’re Wemby.
Every time the Spurs tried to speed up the game and make a run, the Thunder answered with tough defense. Now the Spurs have to go through the toughest part of their postseason run. After the incredibly fun win in Game 1 and their blowout win in Game 4, things felt fairly breezy and free for San Antonio. Now it must win Game 6 at home against the champs, then go on the road in a Game 7 to skip those proverbial steps.
Advertisement
What do the Spurs need in Game 6? Shut down the role players. They had great success in Game 4 by limiting the Thunder’s bench and role players. Even without Williams and Mitchell in Game 5, OKC got 22 off the bench from Alex Caruso, along with 12 points and 15 rebounds from Isaiah Hartenstein and 20 points from Jared McCain. The Spurs received 20 combined points on 7-of-31 shooting from De’Aaron Fox, Devin Vassell and Dylan Harper. You can’t lose that battle with those guys.
{“endpoint”:”https://api-prd-nyt.theathletic.com/graphql”}
What can the Thunder improve upon? Get back on defense. The Spurs are up 76-42 in fast-break points in this series. They had a 26-9 advantage in Game 5, and whenever they made runs to try to challenge OKC, the Spurs pushed the tempo. The Thunder like to run strategically, but they don’t want to be in a track meet with San Antonio.
What’s a big stat from the game? The Thunder had 26 second-chance points. Offensive rebounding was nearly even (15-14 in favor of the Spurs), but OKC capitalized way more, as the Spurs had just 15 second-chance points.
Playoff Panic Meter: 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨 for San Antonio.
When is Game 6? Tomorrow at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBC/Peacoc
The last 24
🗣️ Mea culpa? Becky Hammon once said a small guard like Jalen Brunson can’t lead a championship team. “If he proves me wrong, he proves me wrong,” she says now.
🧪 Pick your poison. Do the Knicks match up better with the Spurs or the Thunder? Our James Edwards III has the answer.
🏀 He’s staying. A lot of people have wondered about the future of Kenny Atkinson in Cleveland. He’s sticking around.
💰 How much?? Someone paid over $5 million for a Wemby card. Why? He has the highest ceiling.
🔊 “NBA Daily.” Watch and listen to a recap of last night’s game.
Stream the NBA on Fubo (try it for free!) and catch out-of-market games on League Pass.
Uh, congrats?
Mazzulla named top coach after odd delay
Before the regular season was over, Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla decided to take a stand against … the Coach of the Year award? He called it a stupid award, while trying to state that this should be about the players and the coaching staff. Not just one coach. Uh … it kind of is? You usually can’t win Coach of the Year without players being good. And that doesn’t often happen without help from the coaching and support staff.
Advertisement
Mazzulla was one of the favorites to win the award. Coach of the Year is usually one of the first awards given out after the regular season ends. But it wasn’t announced until yesterday, with Mazzulla winning the stupid honor. The season ended April 12. That’s a 44-day wait, and it was the last award given out.
I went back to 2006 (just on Basketball-Reference, not in a DeLorean) to see how long after the season the COY announcement came. This wait was by far the longest one we’ve had over the last two decades. Don’t believe me? I made a chart!
Remember from 2017 to 2019, the NBA tried to turn its awards season into the Academy Awards or something. So we never got the announcement until late June. But even in the lockout or pandemic-truncated seasons, we still didn’t wait as long as we did for the Mazzulla news.
The previous long wait was 29 days, when Monty Williams won it in 2022. The Phoenix Suns won 64 games that year but lost badly in the second round against the Dallas Mavericks. Well … the series went seven games, but the Suns were up 3-2 before dropping Games 6 and 7 by a combined 60 points. Monty actually received the award in the middle of that series.
The previous 17 winners waited an average of 12 days, and that’s with the brief uptick in 2021 and 2022. Why so long this year? Was it because Mazzulla seemed dismissive of the idea of the award? Was it because the Celtics blew a 3-1 lead to the 76ers and Mazzulla was too salty to accept the trophy? At least we feel pretty confident the Celtics aren’t going to fire him within two years of winning this award, like teams have done with so many other coaches.
Good sports
To dap or not to dap; that is the question
On this date in 1991, the Chicago Bulls completed a sweep of the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference finals. The Bad Boy Pistons were the roadblock for Michael Jordan’s Bulls, and they beat them up year after year. Finally, Chicago conquered Detroit and all its shenanigans. And at the end, the Pistons did the infamous “walk-off”as they left the court without congratulating the Bulls or shaking their hands. This is the kind of pettiness this league was built on.
The Pistons tried to explain later on that this same thing happened to them when they defeated the Celtics in the 1988 playoffs. Detroit finally got past Boston before eventually becoming champions in 1989 and 1990. Maybe this was a right of passage, but it looked like sour grapes and being sore losers to not shake hands with Jordan and the gang.
Advertisement
This anniversary got me thinking about the end of Game 6 between the Spurs and the Minnesota Timberwolves nearly two weeks ago. With 8:01 left in their season and the Wolves down by 33, Anthony Edwards was subbed out of the game. He walked over to the San Antonio bench during the timeout and dapped up the coaches and players. It was a sign of respect, but it also left a lot of people thinking this was a bad idea.
Edwards later explained his reasoning on his YouTube channel:
“There’s eight minutes left in the game, but (we’re) not going back in the game. When you win a playoff series, everybody is celebrating at the end of the game, so they’re going to be smiling, while I’m pissed off that we just lost.
“I didn’t want to dap them up at all, but then what would they be saying about me? It would have been a whole other conversation. I gave them the respect they deserve. I could’ve waited until the end of the game; that’s some people’s perspective, but I did what I did. That’s why I’m me and y’all are whoever y’all are.”
If Edwards had walked off the floor, he would’ve been a sore loser. It would’ve been disrespectful. But doing what he did, knowing his season was over, ended up being … too respectful? Edwards has rarely shied away from criticism, and he’s always continued to talk trash whether his team is winning, losing or tied. His personality and perspective have been refreshing in an era of PR-driven interviews.
We’ve seen the two extremes of these situations. You can walk away without saying anything or acknowledging the winner. Or you can walk over with the game realistically over and show them respect before they start celebrating following the final buzzer. Isiah Thomas was never going to do that for Jordan, but that’s probably because they hate each other.