After three consecutive losses to the San Antonio Spurs, the Oklahoma City Thunder brought their rivals from South Texas back to earth a bit. And Mitch Johnson gives all credit to the defending NBA champions.
“We were out of place a lot,” the Spurs head coach admitted.
Though San Antonio played relatively well in the first half, outscoring the team with the league's best record by three in the second quarter to trail by three at the break, the third quarter was a different story. The Thunder blitzed the squad sitting second in the Western Conference by 16 points.
“There was a stretch there where it was even hard to figure out what we were doing wrong because when you're not in the right starting spot, it's hard to then move to the next part of the execution of whatever the scheme and coverage is because it's already been a breakdown and now guys aren't connected,” Johnson said of the defensive breakdowns that allowed OKC to put up 40 in that third frame.
“We had a lot of holes in schematic coverage execution in all facets,” the first year head coach added.
Mitch Johnson details Spurs struggles
Spurs star Stephon Castle played well with team highs in points (20), assists (8) and rebounds (7 with Victor Wembanyama). But Oklahoma City held him at bay during some crucial times. Fellow guard Dylan Harper started well but tailed off, with most of his 12 points coming in the first half. San Antonio's second leading scorer for the season, De'Aaron Fox finished six points below his average with 14.
“We want to empower guys and there's no quick fix. You've got to learn where your shots are from and I think shot expectation sometimes is more important here than shot quality, “Johnson continued. “Everybody talks about shot quality. A lot of times when you see the best teams that make shots, they know exactly where their shots and their teammates' shots are coming from and that really eases your mind and gives you a lot of confidence when you know where your shots are coming from. That's something we'll continue to try to improve on.”
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The Spurs shot 35% from three-point range, 40% from the field.
“The third quarter is what got away from us, but even the first half, whether it felt like there were controllable moments and then they obviously took advantage of them, they just make you pay, or just some uncharacteristic lack of game plan execution,” Johnson added. “In the third quarter, obviously, is when they hopped on it and caught some separation.”
Offensively on their end, the Thunder put Wemby in tough spots.
“I think they wanted to probably get him away from the ball and then make him have to make decisions on when he was helping to close out and to attack and whatnot it felt like a few times,” the December Western Conference Coach of the Month revealed.
“But I don't think we were very sharp,” Johnson concluded.
That's now been the case for the Spurs since their third win vs. the Thunder on Christmas Day. They've lost four of six games since then.