San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson criticized his team’s performance after they lost in Game 2 at home to the New York Knicks.
The Knicks won Game 2 105-104 to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals, with the series now heading back to New York for Games 3 and 4.
Although the final score might not show it, since the Spurs made a late comeback, overall, it was a poor showing by a Spurs team that finished with the second-most wins during the regular season, and which just beat the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder to reach the NBA Finals.
Mitch Johnson Criticizes Team’s Performance After Game 2 Loss
Speaking to reporters following their Game 2 loss, Johnson was critical of his team’s performance in the game.
“We just weren’t playing good enough. We weren’t consistent enough in our execution in a lot of phases of the game. I thought a little bit more detail, I guess, but I felt like we chased the game a little bit. They made some really tough shots at the end of the shot clock, and I thought that affected our approach at times and took away from just trying to play our brand of basketball,” Johnson said.
For the Spurs, this is a devastating loss, as no team in NBA history has won the championship after they lost the first two games of the NBA Finals at home.
One of the reasons the Spurs are down is the strong play of Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns, who has been a menace on both sides of the floor during the series.
In Johnson’s view, his team needs to start holding Towns more accountable, as his strong performance is one of the keys to the Knicks’ taking this 2-0 lead in the series.
“He’s had two good games. We’ve still got to make it tougher on him. We’ve had some coverage breakdowns and just keep trying to make great players work for everything they get,” Johnson said.
Spurs vs. Knicks Updated Series Betting Odds
According to DraftKings Sportsbook, the Knicks are now -500 favorites to win the NBA Championship, with the Spurs as +380 underdogs.
Entering the series, the Spurs were -220 favorites, with the Knicks as +180 underdogs, so the betting odds have swung significantly after New York won the first two games of the series, which makes sense, given they have a 2-0 series lead and are now headed back to New York City to play Games 3 and 4.
But this Spurs team was incredible all season long, and after knocking off the Thunder in the Western Conference Finals en route to the NBA Finals, you can’t count them out of winning this series, even if history isn’t on their side as far as home teams losing the first two games of an NBA Finals go.
We’ll see what adjustments that Johnson and his coaching staff come up with for the Spurs in Game 3, which takes place on Monday at 8:30 p.m. ET at Madison Square Garden in NYC, and which is a must-win game for the Spurs if they have any hope of coming back in this series.
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