Neuf de moins
2026 NBA Finals, Game 4
tv off - The universe can be a cruel, cruel place. Having to endure two of the most devastating cut your heart into a thousand pieces with dull scissors and then put those pieces in a blender with the lid off but still turn it on and turn it all the way up to watch the now even smaller pulverized pieces splatter against the walls and ceiling losses in NBA Finals history in 13 years is so incredibly arduous but having to endure two of them in six days? That is just plain sadistic. I want to scream and cry and punch the air and curl up in a ball and clench my teeth and go for a run and pull my hair out and disappear in South America and smash a ceramic mug and float out into the ocean and write 16 bars for a diss track and snuggle with my cat and drive on the autobahn and binge-watch Friends and break a window with a brick and sleep for a day because more than anything, I just want to forget. My emotions are such a stew of anger, embarrassment, frustration, disbelief, befuddlement and disappointment but the star of the dish is indisputably sadness. As understandable as it is given our youth, It’s just so heartbreaking to watch us lose our composure and allow an inferior opponent to not only create their own luck but also continue to be this staggeringly lucky over and over again. The karmic injustice of the idea that we are not yet living in a universe where the ball is bouncing towards results that punish the wicked is excruciating. I refuse to submit to the despairing notion that we won’t be living in that universe soon so I suppose the comfort of knowing the sequence of events leading to its actualization has to begin now means exoneration from this unbearable pain is forthcoming. But forthcoming provides no relief from the barbarity of the moment. There is no way to alleviate the suffering just yet so I have no choice but acceptance. The pain is momentarily inescapable but thankfully there is an elixir that can help with its management. That elixir is hope and hope is a commodity I possess in abundance. I have faith that the ball will start bouncing towards results that reward the virtuous and in so doing, we will flip this series on our opponent in the exact same manner as they flipped the last game on us (but on the largest possible scale) and the satisfaction of experiencing jubilation take the place of misery (and knowing they are experiencing the reverse) makes the temporary suffering worth enduring through in order to eventually get to live in a better, more just universe. It’s the hope that saves me.
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Let me start by saying this is not De’Aaron Fox’s fault. He made the most mistakes in crunch time including one of the most inexplicable decisions in NBA Finals history but Victor Wembanyama also made mistakes in crunch time and so did Dylan Harper and so did Devin Vassell and so did Stephon Castle and so did Mitch Johnson. Keldon Johnson, Luke Kornet, and Julian Champagnie also made second half mistakes. All of the cumulative mistakes were equally costly. (There were also some officiating mistakes that cost us but unlike Knicks fans…) We had such a margin for error with a 27 point halftime lead, it took a perfect storm of self-inflicted wounds for the San Antonio Spurs to lose Game 4 of the NBA Finals 107-106 to the New York Knicks but that’s exactly what we conjured up. After we matched our biggest lead of the game—29 points at 81-52 with 9:40 left in the third—we could have literally picked one or two of the possessions later in the quarter where we took three point attempts early in the shot clock and instead dribbled out the 24 seconds for a violation and with that alone, we would have won the game. Unfortunately, from the 9:40 mark of the third quarter on, we collectively (Mitch and the coaching staff included) fell into the seductive trap of relaxing in the comfort that a mistake here or there was no longer existential because we were playing with such a massive cushion and because of our immaturity in that area, the mistakes compounded possession after possession until all of a sudden, their cumulative impact was existential. It was a hard lesson but (despite the outside noise) a valuable one that we will learn and grow stronger from going forward to not only finish this season out on our own terms but also to build the proper foundation for the dynastic run we intend to have over the next ten to fifteen years. The bottom line is blaming De’Aaron Fox for what was clearly a collective failure is such a sophomoric reaction. Declaring him fully responsible and calling for him to be benched, traded, investigated for fixing the game, etc. is just plain lazy scapegoating. There’s no question he had a terrible second half. And do I wish he was the type of point guard who would have instinctually attempted to dribble the clock out until he got fouled up one in the fourth with the shot clock off? Of course. But, for better or worse, that’s not how he’s wired. He’s instinctually wired to go for the kill shot and his Swipa mentality has provided us a lot more better than worse this season. We wouldn’t be here without it. De’Aaron Fox is still going to play a major role in determining which team gets to lift the Larry O’Brien at the end of this series and yes, he had a rough night out on the prowl on Wednesday but he’s still a stone cold killer. Anyone who underestimates his capability to out-Brunson Jalen Brunson to decide the 2026 NBA Finals does so at their own risk.
We know we are more talented than our opponent and our deficit in this series is of our own making and that serves as the original position for why it is surmountable. If we start to legislate a performance worthy of the stage we are on for 48 minutes per night (rather than in fits and starts), all of human society will benefit from this series concluding with the crowning of the proper champion. There is no justice for anyone if history records New York breaking a 53-year title drought because San Antonio beat ourselves, least of all Knicks fans. Thankfully, the opportunity to put history back on its proper course still lies before us and the path to actualization can be found by reincarnating the beautiful game. Wednesday’s player of the game Dylan Harper, his iconoclastic ride or die partner Stephon Castle, and his iceman Unc De’Aaron Fox + Devon Vassell, Julian Champagnie, Keldon Johnson, Luke Kornet, Sean Sweeney, and Mitch Johnson all have to give of themselves to create the harmony for its manifestation but the two phoenices most central to rising it from its ashes are Victor Wembanyama and Gregg Popovich. The Alien is not only the best player in the series, he is the best player on the planet 👽 Greatness, however, must be earned and he’s three wins away from ending all argument that he’s not also already the greatest player on the planet. It’s there for Wemby’s taking and if he brings the same unrelenting focus and execution to elimination games in this round as he did while facing elimination twice at the hands of the defending champs, there is absolutely nothing the New York Knicks can do to stop him. Give them credit. They have a collection of talented players (including a couple of special ones in OG Anunoby and Jalen Brunson) who play tough-nosed basketball and play really well together as a team but even the Oklahoma City Thunder had no answers when Victor played with pique concentration and desperation. The Knicks are not in the position they are in because they have unique answers for stopping a generational force, they are in the position they are in because they haven’t had to face it yet by Wemby’s own making. The big variable in the feasibility of the Spurs becoming the first team in Finals history to come back from an 0-2 hole at home that conventional wisdom is ignoring is the level of dominance Victor reached while facing elimination against the Thunder and the reality that that is a level New York is not equipped to overcome. He’s about to go there again and remain there for the rest of these Finals. He’s too competitive to expect anything less. Circling this back to reincarnating the beautiful game, I think the aspect of Wemby’s game that when fully unleashed will finally break this stubbornly unflappable opponent is his playmaking. As soon as Wemby starts using the threat of his scoring to unlock all of the dynamism of his teammates so that he is dictating the game on the offensive end with the same dominance with which he is dictating it on the defensive end, not only will he be able to conserve some more energy for crunch time but forcing the opponent to come to the realization that they have no answers for this version of The Alien will become demoralizing, especially for a team feeling the pressure not to squander their once in a half-century lighting in a bottle opportunity. The parallels I drew in Sept de moins haven’t come to bare but I think it’s because (knowing what we know now) it wasn’t my most astute observation about where Victor is on his journey. He doesn’t yet have the seasoning to win this title with the precision of a 28-year-old Michael Jordan in 1991. He’s going to have to win it with the imagination of a 20-year-old Magic Johnson in 1980. He’s going to have to dazzle.
The person most capable of helping to unlock Wemby as the hub for a reincarnated beautiful game was not in New York City this week but he is with the team back in San Antonio for Game 5 tonight. This of course is the mentor of the 2015, 2017, 2018, 2021 & 2022 title-winning coaches, the 2025 title-winning general manager and both of the coaches in the 2026 Finals, five-time NBA championship and one-time Olympic gold medal-winning coach Gregg Popovich. It’s easy to forget that Mitch Johnson—while ultra talented like his franchise players—is also incredibly young and is also learning on the job. Mitch is 39-years-old in his second year as a head coach and first playoffs going up against a 59-year-old in his twelfth year as a head coach and eighth playoffs in Mike Brown, someone with previous Finals experience. Johnson has done a fantastic job in leading us here but experience makes a huge difference in coaching the NBA Finals. Last year, 65-year-old 2011 title-winning coach Rick Carlisle led an overmatched Indiana Pacers team to a star player’s catastrophic injury at the beginning of Game 7 away from defeating 40-year-old Marc Daigneault’s vastly more talented Oklahoma City Thunder. Without taking away from the phenomenal job Mitch is doing and with complete confidence that he is learning and growing through this experience just as much as his franchise players, it needs to be mentioned that this wasn’t the plan. The plan was for Coach Pop to be coaching these upstart next generation Spurs supernovas through their first playoff experience and that was taken away from him in a sudden and lamentable way. Had this (often) cruel universe afforded him the opportunity to finish his coaching career on his own terms, he would be coaching in his seventh Finals right now and his impact would be incalculable but there’s no question that one of the greatest sideline game managers of all-time would at minimum have this series tied at 2-2 and more realistically would have the Spurs up 3-1. While he’s been robbed of having the type of real-time direct impact on what’s happening between the lines as he used to with a clipboard in his hand, the good news is that El Jefe still gets to have an impact on helping the beloved franchise he has devoted 32 years of his life to in overcoming our biggest Finals deficit ever. Every time Pop has spoken to our players after we’ve faced adversity in the 2026 postseason, we have responded. Not just with demonstrating the appropriate fear and playing with the appropriate focus but also with making the proper tactical adjustments. I expect nothing different in Game 5 and I predict the tactical adjustment Pop will help Coach Mitch make will unlock an overpowering dynamism in our offense that will expose the Knicks as a paper tiger and that we will soon fondly refer to as the beautiful game 2.0. It starts tonight in our third ever NBA Finals elimination game. If we improve our record to 2-1 tonight in Finals elimination games, we earn the opportunity to play to improve our record to 3-1. If we win that one, we earn the opportunity to play to improve our record to 4-1. If we win that one, we finish the season out on our own terms. With the help of our good ole reliable banner-raising institution of a former head coach and current president of basketball operations, Victor Wembanyama and the #BlackAndSilver will face elimination from here on out and they will do so prepared to shock the world.
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Faith is a glimmering sparkle out on the horizon. I cannot surrender my certitude that our journey is not ending when I can see the flickering light out in front on the path a week’s distance away. We have now endured more adversity than has ever been overcome but we accept and embrace the challenge and step forward towards the redemptive journey’s end that is still ours to pursue. We will never lay down. Our ability to harden through struggle and take another stride forward after every single time we’ve been knocked back on our heels gives us the strength to know we can stay the course and we will persevere. I still believe.
Featured Image Source: Texas Public Radio
Headline Image Source: NEWS4SA
Four Starboard
2019 NBA Western Conference First Round, Game 7
Like a Rolling Stone - It was a different world, it was another life. Perhaps, in a cruelly poetic way, this was the bridge from the stability of a world that had sustained for decades to the chaos of a new world that awaited on the horizon just past the point of visibility. The San Antonio Spurs fought nobly to hang on to that past stability, to the order of a world that for Lonnie Walker IV, the Spurs youngest player, was the only world he had ever known. When Patty Mills aggressively advanced an outlet pass to a streaking Bryn Forbes for a dunk that cut the Denver Nuggets' lead to two points (88-86) with 52.2 seconds remaining in Game 7, having clawed our way back from an abysmal 13 point first quarter performance and a deficit that ballooned to 17 points in the third quarter, the continuation of stability and order was well within our reach. Full stop with one stop for a chance to advance to the Western Conference Semifinals for the 17th time in 21 seasons under Gregg Popovich. Could we get just one stop? After a Nuggets timeout, we received our answer...unfortunately it was not the answer we had been hoping for and Jamal Murray, Denver's super-talented point guard, was more than happy to be the bearer of our bad news. With 36.8 seconds remaining, Murray sank a 14-foot floater to extend the Nuggets' lead back up to four (90-86). Of course, as coldblooded and devastating as Murray's dagger was, all hope was not yet lost. In his first season headlining the post-Kawhi-defection-Spurs, DeMar DeRozan had had no issues putting the team on his back in clutch situations. Nothing was about to change during a First Round Game 7. Only eight seconds later, DeMar got to "his spot" deep in the paint and rose up for a shot to cut the lead to two with enough time left (28 seconds) for us to have the opportunity to play defense without fouling. Sadly, that opportunity never ultimately came to fruition as DeMar's shot was blocked by Torrey Craig, one of Denver's better wing-defenders. Nuggets superstar center Nikola Jokic recovered Craig's block shot giving possession back to Denver. While the blocked shot was obviously devastating to the Spurs' chances of advancement, once again...all was not yet lost. Down four, the Spurs still had the opportunity to play the "foul game" and given the Nuggets' collective playoff inexperience coupled with the added pressure of an elimination game, it was reasonable to hope that Denver might miss free throws and help keep San Antonio's door open to make up the four point deficit in the final 25 seconds. What happened next, though, was inexplicable. For some reason, the Spurs elected not to foul and allowed Denver to run the shot clock down under five seconds before Murray ultimately shot and missed. It seemed that Coach Pop was calling for the foul from the sidelines but our players on the court seemed to just have a collective mental meltdown by allowing the Nuggets to run the clock down. Even though Murray missed, it was too late by the time DeMar got the rebound given that we were still down four points. There was only one second left when DeRozan got control of the ball and realizing that it was over, he didn't even attempt a desperation shot before time ran out and San Antonio's season was over. On April 27th, 2019, the Denver Nuggets eliminated the San Antonio Spurs in seven games (4-3), winning the decisive game 90-86 at home at the Pepsi Center in Denver. Rudy Gay was the player of the game with 21 points and 8 rebounds off the bench. Without the veteran swingman's contributions throughout the game, the Spurs wouldn't have had the opportunity to be within striking distance to steal the series down the stretch. Spurs teams past regularly came up with the stops necessary to advance in the playoffs. The 2018-19 Spurs didn't and in falling short, this group, despite their grit, finally allowed the bonds of our past to succumb under the weight of an offseason transaction that changed the trajectory of our future. The new world was no longer just past the point of visibility on the horizon, the new world was here.
Fast forward 25 months and a lot has happened. First (but not foremost), this, the Black & Silver post for the 2019 Western Conference First Round, Game 7, is brazenly pushing out the limits of what constitutes a timely game recap. If you are a regular reader of the blog series, it will probably not shock you to know that I'm unapologetically defiant (borderline gleeful) to be pushing those limits. After all, one of our guiding principles here at theLeftAhead is that time is an illusion. Of course, I wouldn't have had to push the limits out this much had an unfortunate incident of playing an uneven number of games during the pandemic resulted in the unlucky math that eliminated the Spurs from competing in the 2019-20 NBA Playoffs in The Bubble in Orlando, FL last fall and also ended San Antonio's record-breaking streak of 22 consecutive playoff appearances. Like I said, a lot has happened in the 25 months since the Spurs 2019 Game 7 defeat at the hands of the Nuggets. A new world indeed. Zoom forward a little bit more into this season and we find a couple of more examples of our beloved Spurs adjusting to the realities of this new era. The season started off on a very positive trajectory and there was hope that last season was just a blip (and not the new normal). There were positive indications that we were in position to establish our return to being a perennial postseason lock through much of the season with the team reaching a season-high mark of five games over .500 and holding the fifth-seed in the standings on Valentine's Day. Then, unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic reared its ugly head. We were never the same after losing five players to health and safety protocols in late February. To make matter worse, having had six games postponed due to protocols also meant that our schedule post-All-Star break was the most brutal in the league playing 40 games in 68 days without one instance of consecutive days off in the second half of the season. More tribulations came as the Spurs decided to buy out LaMarcus Aldridge (one of the last remaining links to the old world Spurs) on March 25th when we couldn't find a suitable trade partner before the deadline. I was happy to see LA sign with the Nets so he could have a chance to compete again for a title but then really bummed when he was abruptly forced to retire on April 15th due to a reoccurrence of his heart condition. (I enjoyed watching you go to work on the block in SA for six great years, LA. Amazing career. Health is more important than basketball so I wish you a long, healthy retirement.) As if we had not already endured enough adversity, we lost Derrick White to a season-ending ankle sprain at the end of April. All of this adversity resulted in the Spurs going from five games over .500 to six games below .500 and ending the season as the 10th seed entering the newly-created NBA Playoff Play-In Tournament. Tonight, we face a familiar division foe in the Memphis Grizzlies at the FedEx Forum. The Grizzlies hold the 9th seed in the play-in tournament so they get home court advantage for tonight's game. If we win tonight, we will get to play the loser of tonight's game between the 8th seed Golden State Warriors and the 7th seed Defending Champion Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. Win that game and we earn the 8th seed and get to face the Utah Jazz in the First Round of the playoffs. Quite a task in front of us but the good new is that there is no expectation for us two win two games in a row to "make the playoffs" so we might as well play loose and see what happens. In the end, we are officially in this new world of playing the underdog rather than being the perennial powerhouse and it's kind of exciting to be in this new position. There are advantages to our new world. Tonight is going to be a lot of fun. Nothing exemplifies the transition into a new era of Spurs basketball more than an event that took place this past Saturday (May 15th). If you're a reader of this blog and a Spurs plan, the aforementioned event need not be named (but I will share a video from it below). All I need to say is thank you ? thank you ? thank you ? thank you ? thank you ? Tim Duncan. And on that note, time to start preparing for the game tonight. Even as an underdog, we still have the winningest coach in NBA history in our corner (regular season and playoffs combined) so I like our chances to play loose and enjoy the "lack of expectations" and maybe get hot and shake up the 2021 Western Conference Playoff race. If we are successful in sneaking our way into a First Round series with the Utah Jazz, all I can say to the fans of the teams ahead of us who may feel that their squads were more deserving is sorry, not sorry.
Featured Image Source: BarDown
Headline Image Source: The Comeback
Uno Derrota
2017 NBA Western Conference First Round, Game 3
HUMBLE. - If the last six months have taught us anything, it's that whining can take you a long way in Donald Trump's America. Case in point, Memphis Grizzlies head coach David Fizdale. Congratulations, Fizzy. Whining has now earned you a playoff victory against the San Antonio Spurs. In the least surprising development of the 2017 playoffs, to date, Memphis defeated San Antonio 105-94 on Thursday night to close the series deficit to 2-1 and place a nice, fuzzy bow on the city's obnoxious love affair with Fizdale's childish, classless, and unwarranted post-Game 2 rant. The fact that Memphis seized on the manufactured momentum to grab an emotional "backs against the wall" victory was the predictable outcome to Thursday night's contest. A Hollywood writers room couldn't have scripted it any better. There was more suspense in Thursday's new Game of Zones episode than there was in Spurs v. Grizzlies, Game 3. Note to Adam Silver: It's foolishness like this that provides fuel for conspiracy fodder that the NBA is just as scripted as WWE. Of course the team whose coach made an ass out of himself and his city (err, I mean stood up for his players) after going down two games to zero gets the vomit-inducing (err, I mean heart-warming) desperation win after returning back home a cult hero. Having already collected Fizdale's (err, I mean his players) $30K fine, why wouldn't the NBA do everything in it's power to make sure that the after-school special storyline of a coach who cares too much rallying his team to victory happens? That's just good television. I know the NBA is trying to angle it's way into the business of hosting award shows by putting on the NBA Awards this June but, come on. Usually in sports, awards are given for performance in competition, not for putting on an Oscar worthy performance for the media in the postgame press conference. But whatever, Fizzy is going to quickly learn that the award (a home playoff victory over the Spurs) which the NBA predictably bestowed on him for manufacturing a fake controversy is merely a participation trophy. Within the next week, David Fizdale is going to come to realize that he's still light years away from knowing how to coach on a level that earns real hardware, namely Larry O'Brien trophies.
Indeed...with his Monday night stunt, David Fizdale has already played his hand for this series. What a weak hand he was holding to feel compelled to so haphazardly play his cards two games into the 2017 Playoffs. The beautiful thing about Coach Pop is that his counter to Fizdale's loud, bombastic, desperate hand was quiet, stoic, and confident. Pop was so cool, calm, and collected on Thursday night, he almost made the Game of Zones White Walker caricature of him seem realistic. Pop's ice cold YIN to Fizzy's red hot YANG should provide startling evidence to every Memphis fan that their newly beloved coach is completely overmatched. The former (once again) did something that he's done several times before and something that no other coach in the history of the NBA has ever also had the stones to do. He waved the white flag and gave his opponent the victory with more than enough time left to mount a comeback. Pop did this in order to demonstrate to his players that their energy and focus to start the second half were completely unacceptable for a playoff game. In other words, he prematurely conceded the battle to help teach his soldiers how to win the war. Only down four after a relatively evenly played first half, the Spur came out after halftime and started the third quarter like we'd just been in the locker room celebrating 4/20. We committed two turnovers while the Grizzlies scored five points to start the frame. Carelessness like we displayed in the opening minute of the third is a telltale sign of littering and... so Pop rushed in like Jeff Sessions visiting Colorado and shut the whole thing down. He pulled Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge, Tony Parker, Danny Green, and Dwayne Dedmond one minute into the third quarter and replaced them with Pau Gasol, Patty Mills, David Lee, Kyle Anderson, and Jonathan Simmons because his starters had allowed Memphis to extend the lead from four to nine. There is not another NBA coach (current or former) that would have had the nerve to do that in a playoff game. In case you haven't noticed over these past 19 years, Gregg Popovich is playing chess. Unfortunately for Grizzlies fans, as much as they may have loved David Fizdale's fiery rant, such a weak hand is evidence that David Fizdale is playing checkers. On second thought, Pop hasn't even begun playing chess yet. This is still the first week of the first round, after all. Gregg Popovich is playing checkers like it's chess. David Fizdale, having gone all-in on his Monday night stunt, has already demonstrated he's playing checkers like it's Tic-tac-toe.
Here's the biggest misnomer about Game 3. The narrative is that Fizzy rallied his team to completely outplay the Spurs on Thursday night. That's true...but only if you reduce basketball to a free throw shooting contest. Fair warning: what I'm about to say is going to blow your mind. As much credit as the Grizzlies (and Fizzy in particular) were given for their Game 3 performance (and even despite Pop conceding the game early to teach our players a lesson), in actuality the Grizzlies didn't beat us in Game 3...we beat ourselves. The Spur were a horrendous 16-28 from the free throw line. Yep. We left 12 points on the board at the charity stripe in a game that we lost by 11. If we had made our free throws, which we're fully capable of doing (keep in mind, in Game 2, three nights earlier, we demonstrated it, going a ridiculous 31-32 from the line), despite everything else, we would have been right there at the end of the game with a chance to win. In all actuality, Memphis should be counting their lucky stars to have won Game 3. Had we shot that same percentage again on Thursday as we did on Monday, all Coach Fizdale's self-aggrandizing version of the Win One for the Gipper speech would've been able to muster is a shot for the Grizzlies to win Game 3 in overtime. It's kind of sad to think about the game in this context as a Fizzy-frenzied Grizzlies fan given that Pop threw in the towel with a quarter left to play. Also, knowing Pop, had the Spurs hit free throws in Game 3 allowing the bench to get the game to overtime, our plays checkers like chess coach would have awarded the bench players the overtime minutes and given them a chance to steal the game. By the way, Memphis does not have a good track record against the Spurs in overtime playoff games (having lost not one but two of them) in the 2013 Western Conference Finals. Don't get me wrong, Memphis fans should be thrilled to have finally snapped a ten game playoff losing streak to San Antonio. But being thrilled about it because you're buying the "Fizdale coached 'em up to dominate the game" narrative is delusional. Given all of this, you're probably not surprised that I am extremely confident in the #BlackAndSilver's chances to win Game 4 tonight in the FedExForum. By the way, the player of the game on Thursday was LaMarcus Aldridge. L.A. logged 16 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, and a block in 30 Game 3 minutes. We need him to keep up that type of production in Game 4. Combine it with a bounce back game from the backcourt tandem of Tony Parker and Maun Ginobili (who were both held scoreless on Thursday for the first time in the same playoff game in their illustrious careers playing together) as well as the type of dominance we've come to expect from Kawhi Leonard (aka the best player in the world) and the Spurs will have a fantastic shot to get the series back on track this evening. Gregg Popovich has played enough games of both checker and chess to not only know the difference between the two, but to also know that if we get back to playing focused, determined Spurs basketball in Game 4...we're going to be just fine. No need to panic yet. We just need our heroes to be heroes.
Featured Image Source: Yahoo Sports
Headline Image Source: San Antonio Express-News