How Spurs’ Mitch Johnson nearly left rookie crying eyes out during Game 4

The San Antonio Spurs are currently gearing up for Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals on Thursday evening at home against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Spurs will be facing elimination in this game after dropping Game 5 in ugly fashion on the road earlier this week.

Head coach Mitch Johnson was frustrated throughout that game both at the referees and his players, and he’s shown no shortage of assertiveness throughout this series, including in Game 4, when he nearly brought rookie Carter Bryant to tears after yelling at him for a bad play.

Recently, Keldon Johnson spoke on his head coach’s demeanor this season.

“We do things a little bit different than [last season],” Johnson said, per Marc J. Spears of Andscape, via Hoopshype. “But I feel like Mitch has always enforced kind of what he’s wanted from us and what he wanted to see from us. So, I don’t think things have changed in that manner. I think we do things [at] a lot more technical, a lot more intense level. …”

One controversial moment occurred in Game 5 when Johnson signaled for a challenge but was not awarded one; however, the rulebook clarifies that a coach must signal for a timeout prior to asking for the challenge, which Johnson did not do, so the referees were correct in not stopping the game.

Johnson will need to cook up a much better game plan for Game 6, preferably one that involves Victor Wembanyama around the basket more often than he was in Game 5, when he struggled through the worst playoff game of his young postseason career and went 0-5 from beyond the arc.

Game 6 is slated to tip off on Thursday at 8:30 pm ET from San Antonio.

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