The San Antonio Spurs were way ahead os schedule last season. As one of the youngest teams in the league, they were supposed to be learning from the NBA elites, but they became one of them instead, under the leadership of star center Victor Wembanyama.
With Victor leading the way, the Spurs dominated their Western Conference opponents and had so much momentum going into the Finals. Once they were there, however, it was a struggle to keep up against a Knicks team that was all too ready for the moment. In a recent chat with the media, New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns reflected on the series and why the Spurs kept blowing leads when the stakes were highest.
“I think sometimes when you’re a young team you look to not lose the game, and we were looking to win the game,” said Towns. “That’s what made us bring such aggression to the game, and I think they were just trying to protect the lead.”
On all fronts, the Finals were an abject disaster for San Antonio. They had a double-digit lead in all five games of the series, including Game 4, when they went up by 29 points before suffering a historic collapse. The Spurs had no solution for their struggles, and even Victor Wembanyama seemed clueless about how to stop the bleeding.
What makes it worse for the Spurs is that they have it all on paper, in terms of talent and depth. Besides Wembanyama, who averaged 250 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 3.1 assists in 2025-26, their roster includes De’Aaron Fox, Keldon Johnson, Dylan Harper, and Stephon Castle (among others), leading to early title expectations. They won 62 games last season and beat the defending champs en route to their first Finals appearance in 12 years.
But as a young team on their first playoff run together, the Spurs’ lack of experience was their downfall, and there were early signs that they were unprepared for the moment. One example is after the win over the Thunder in the West Finals, when Victor and the Spurs were seen celebrating like they just won the title. You could argue that it was the point they lost their focus and made the crucial mistake of underestimating their opponents.
Needless to say, the Knicks made them pay, and Towns believes it has a lot to do with their approach. Unlike the Spurs, who were playing to avoid mistakes and keep their focus, the Knicks were seizing every opportunity they could to dictate the pace of the game and play their own style of basketball. While the Spurs were nervous and unsure of themselves, the Knicks were completely confident and never lost sight of the bigger picture.
In the end, it’s a prime example of why talent alone doesn’t always win in the NBA. The Spurs, while arguably deeper than New York on paper, were not ready for the pressure and demands of Finals basketball. The good news is, they have plenty of time to learn, with most of their core still young enough to expand their game.
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