{"id":713441,"date":"2026-04-18T20:42:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T20:42:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/713441\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T20:42:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T20:42:31","slug":"spurs-dangerous-path-to-the-finals-isnt-what-they-need-its-what-they-want","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/713441\/","title":{"rendered":"Spurs&#8217; dangerous path to the Finals isn&#8217;t what they need (It&#8217;s what they want)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"60\">The Spurs have a treacherous path standing in between them and the 2026 NBA championship. If the bracket goes chalk, they\u2019ll have to face the Denver Nuggets and the Oklahoma City Thunder, two of the past three champs, just to make it to the Finals. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"63\">Then, they\u2019ll meet the Eastern Conference\u2019s finest with the Larry O&#8217;Brien trophy on the line. The battle for a title will be an incredibly tough one for San Antonio, but that\u2019s exactly what they want.<\/p>\n<p>The Spurs are young, hungry, and ready to take it all<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"69\">\u201cWe think we\u2019re the best team in the NBA,\u201d declared Keldon Johnson in his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theplayerstribune.com\/keldon-johnson-nba-basketball-san-antonio-spurs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">recent Player\u2019s Tribune article. <\/a>\u201cI don\u2019t even mind saying it, because we truly believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6c\">Who\u2019s to say he\u2019s wrong for saying that?<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6f\">This is a relatively inexperienced Spurs team. They haven\u2019t made the postseason together as a core. Many of the guys are making their playoff debuts. But their youthful energy and naivety can play in their favor.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6i\">As Keldon said, this squad feels like they can take on the world. Their confidence is high, and they\u2019re all laser-focused on the goal of winning. San Antonio wouldn\u2019t have been able to accomplish everything they did in the regular season if they weren\u2019t all in on doing whatever it takes to succeed.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6l\">Every man on the roster, 1-15, has contributed to building a culture and identity that\u2019s conducive to victory. It all starts, of course, with Victor Wembanyama, whose unbelievable maturity, unrelenting desire for winning, and otherworldly skills have made him a leader anyone would go to war for.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6o\">Beyond him, the tenured vets have all made sacrifices for the betterment of the collective. Keldon Johnson has adapted to a <a href=\"https:\/\/airalamo.com\/keldon-johnson-proved-less-is-more-with-sensational-sixth-man-season\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sixth man role and thrived in it<\/a>. Devin Vassell accepted <a href=\"https:\/\/airalamo.com\/devin-vassell-s-massively-impactful-season-flew-under-the-radar\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a smaller offensive role.<\/a> De\u2019Aaron Fox has been more than willing to let Stephon Castle be the lead guard on many nights.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6r\">This group is connected, energized, and poised to rise to the moment in the playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>San Antonio should have no fear in the face of playoff adversity<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6x\">Throughout the regular season, the Spurs proved themselves as one of basketball\u2019s best teams night in and night out. They made easy work of the Thunder multiple times and picked up wins against all the other top contenders.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"70\">Lack of experience isn\u2019t <a href=\"https:\/\/airalamo.com\/airalamo.com\/spurs-can-buck-history-with-rare-but-nonnegotiable-mentality-for-young-teams\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">going to be a problem<\/a> for the Silver and Black. They\u2019re that good. They can beat anybody, and they know it.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"73\">If the Spurs play scared, they will fall short of their championship aspirations. The Thunder, Nuggets, and whoever else they play will be ready to pounce on any sign of weakness.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"76\">This is a fearless bunch in Alamo City, though, and they won\u2019t back down. Anything is possible for the Spurs in this year\u2019s playoffs.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow airalamo.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=airalamo.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Spurs have a treacherous path standing in between them and the 2026 NBA championship. If the bracket&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713442,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3797],"tags":[7,6,969,474,4075,4074,534],"class_list":{"0":"post-713441","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio-spurs","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-san-antonio","11":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","12":"tag-sanantonio","13":"tag-sanantoniospurs","14":"tag-spurs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116427657309280088","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}