Spurs coach Mitch Johnson is not backing away from De’Aaron Fox after Game 4. Instead, he is putting the ball back in Fox’s hands with San Antonio facing elimination in Game 5.
Johnson said he does not pay attention to outside reaction, even after Fox struggled late in the Spurs’ loss to the New York Knicks. He stressed that the only opinions that matter are inside the organization and in the locker room.
“I don’t get into social media,” Johnson said. “I think I’ve been fired 212 times, and we’ve traded Fox 72 times. People have their opinions. I don’t care. I care what the people that matter in our building, our organization, in that locker room, that they know how I feel. De’Aaron Fox will have the basketball in his hands at the end of the game tomorrow, and I have the utmost confidence he’s going to deliver like he’s done countless times for us.”
Fox’s rough finish helped turn Game 4 into one of the most painful losses of San Antonio’s season. The Spurs surrendered a 29-point lead, the Knicks completed the largest comeback in NBA Finals history, and New York moved ahead 3-1 in the series.
On the final possession, Fox drove to the rim with 13.1 seconds left and San Antonio leading by one. OG Anunoby recovered quickly, blocked the attempt, and later tipped in the decisive basket after Jalen Brunson’s miss from 3-point range.
Fox and the Spurs are trying to reset quickly
Fox finished 1-of-5 in the fourth quarter and had a game-high four turnovers. Still, he brushed off the criticism and said the team has already shifted its focus to the next game.
“It’s not like people have my phone number and can call me,” Fox said smiling. “I don’t watch those shows. It doesn’t matter. It is what it is. Can’t change it now. It is what it is. We’re trying to move on from that, continue to learn from the mistakes we made, how we lost the lead, finished the game poorly. We think about the next game.”
San Antonio did not practice Friday, but the team held a film session before meeting with reporters. Forward Devin Vassell said the Spurs saw execution issues on both ends, including defensive communication problems and offensive possessions that drifted from the game plan.
“Just not executing [is what we saw on the film],” Vassell told ESPN. “There were a lot of defensive mistakes that we made, just not communicating. Then, offensively, just staying in our game plan and not steering away from it. We got some good looks. But with our guards, with Fox and Steph [Castle] just putting pressure on the rim, we feel like when we put pressure on the rim it opens up everything. We’ll be all right.”
Wembanyama says the locker room still believes
Victor Wembanyama said the Spurs believe they can do something only one other team has done in NBA Finals history: rally from a 3-1 deficit and win the series. He pointed to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who completed that comeback in 2016.
“Yeah, absolutely,” Wembanyama said. “Everybody thinks, everybody knows, we’re going to do it. We need to isolate that one game and take it one game at a time. It would be a mistake to waste our energy on multiple games. It’s one game at a time.”
San Antonio has held double-digit leads in every game of the series so far, and Johnson believes the Spurs have controlled the flow in each of the first four games. With Game 5 set for Saturday, the message from the coach and the locker room is clear: Fox will have the chance to answer.
