Former Spurs assistant coach has curious explanation for NBA Finals loss to Knicks

The Spurs lost the NBA Finals in five games, and according to Sean Sweeney, the top reasons for that had nothing to do with the title-winning Knicks.

Sweeney, San Antonio’s former top assistant coach and now head coach of the Orlando Magic, offered his take on why his squad is just the runner-up.

“I think a few things,” he said on and episode “The Ryen Russillo Show” that dropped Monday. “One, I think there’s a little attrition having to go through the previous series. Two, bad luck. They told me if the games were like 46 minutes or whatever, we would’ve won 4-1.”

Sean Sweeney bolted the Spurs for the Magic head coach job but not before a few pop shots at the Knicks. NBAE via Getty Images

The first two reasons don’t give the Knicks much credit for forcing the Spurs into mistakes, as his first reason blames a grueling seven-game series against the Thunder and fails to acknowledge the Knicks’ incredible comebacks in four of those five games.

“Jalen [Brunson] obviously had a monster game in that last one. Coached him in Dallas. Happy for him – kind of. I think we just made more mistakes than we had made in the previous series,” Sweeney added. “You can maybe say something to that, but you don’t do what you did, and then all of a sudden become young.”

The Spurs led all five games of the NBA Finals by double digits, but wound up blowing them in four games — including a championship-clinching comeback from 15 points down by the Knicks in Game 5.

Sweeney added that the Spurs’ young players may have struggled to handle media responsibilities.

“The one thing I think that’s a little different in the finals than the other rounds is when you have to do media in the finals, you have to answer questions even when you’ve played poorly or struggled. And you don’t have to do that in previous rounds,” Sweeney said.

The Knicks dominated the second halves of playoff games. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Knicks were +40 in the second half of all five games and +26 in all fourth quarters combined as the Spurs appeared to wilt under pressure during the NBA Finals.

Coach Mitch Johnson’s group, of course, famously blew a 29-point lead in Game 4, which was essentially the end of the road as the Knicks finished the series in five games.