Overview
- The New York Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs to win the NBA Finals in five games, closing the series with multiple late comebacks and dominant second-half play by Jalen Brunson and role players.
- San Antonio repeatedly surrendered large leads during the series, including a 29-point collapse in Game 4 and a 15-point deficit in the clinching game that New York erased.
- Sean Sweeney, the Spurs’ former top assistant who was hired this month as Orlando’s head coach, told The Ryen Russillo Show on Wednesday that the loss came from attrition, “bad luck,” youth and extra media duties for young players.
- Fans and pundits pushed back on Sweeney’s remarks for downplaying the Knicks’ execution and for suggesting hypothetical changes to game length would have altered results.
- Sweeney’s comments reopen debate about Spurs coaching and player responsibility after a grueling seven-game conference series the team played earlier in the playoffs and signal a new flashpoint for scrutiny as he moves to the Eastern Conference.