'Embrace It': How Spurs Have Adjusted To Physical Playoff Basketball

MINNEAPOLIS -- Mitch Johnson saw the play, as did most of the basketball world.

In the guts of Game 3, Stephon Castle handled the rock outside the arc with Jaden McDaniels draped all over him. As McDaniels reached in, Castle lifted his arm and snapped his head back as he fought through the contact. Dylan Harper set a hard screen to bump McDaniels out of the way, and he was replaced by the beefy Julius Randle who continued to harangue Castle. Steph used his off arm to fend Randle off, and as he drove Victor Wembanyama flattened Randle with a crushing screen.

So…we are saying this is NOT hand-checking? pic.twitter.com/9X9x3Pgx9f
— Swipa (@SwipaCam) May 9, 2026

In the regular season it could have been a foul on McDaniels, or on Randle, or on Castle, or a carry. There were about 10 times in the 10-second clip where the official could have blown the play dead and assessed a penalty one way or the other, according to the NBA rulebook. But this is the playoffs, and the whistle stayed holstered.

"It feels more physical standing on the sideline, for sure," Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said after the team broke down the film on Saturday morning. "It is something we've tried to embrace. When you've never done something before, but you're expecting what something will be like, I think it's always good to try to embrace it, and I think that's a big part of the playoffs, as we know traditionally, and that's been one of the main focuses for us: it was going to be more physical."

"It's still the game of basketball," Keldon Johnson said. "Obviously schemes are different, possessions mean more, things like that, the physicality is definitely there. I wouldn't say you get away with a lot more, but it's just a lot more physical basketball and intensity is way higher than regular season, for sure."

Since the beginning of the season, and really since Wembanyama arrived in San Antonio, teams have tried to beat the Spurs up. That means they've had plenty of time to prepare for exactly this sort of test.

"Our team, whether it's our youth or it's maybe Victor centric, but we know physicality has been a part of game planning versus us, and we also know that our physicality doesn't always produce itself or show itself like other teams," Johnson said. "That's okay, but we want to grow in our evolution of physicality, which I think we've done this year, and then I think we want to commit to it and embrace it."

The Timberwolves are doing their best to push Wembanyama around, and he continues to collect scars all up and down his arms.

"It's gonna happen. They're Wolves, after all," he said with a chuckle.

Game 3 was the first time in a long time that Wembanyama had to contend with foul trouble after Rudy Gobert tangled with him for a rebound and the foul somehow went against Wemby, who was incredulous.

Foul called on Victor Wembanyama pic.twitter.com/FnoGLHoYY5
— hymn duncan (@hymnduncan) May 9, 2026

With about six minutes left in the game Johnson gave Wemby a quick breather to collect himself, but after that he wisely let his star play through the foul trouble.

"Staying calm, getting my senses back," Wembanyama said when asked what he did in that minute. "The coaches tell us what to do, so stay steady, trust our process."

Wembanyama never picked up that sixth foul, and finished with a dominant 39 points, 15 boards and five blocks.

"We were going to not leave any bullets in the chamber in terms of keeping him on the bench," Johnson said. "We were going to play him and then if he fouled out, we'd deal with that when we got to it."

The decision was praised as the right call, and helped make up for an earlier error.

The Spurs couldn't challenge Wemby's fifth foul after burning it way too early in the game on Castle's first foul, which was a charge that the officials got right. Typically it's not a good idea to challenge in the first half unless you're 100% sure, because it's better to save that to overturn a play that could really swing the game. The mistake drew some confusion and criticism, and an admission from Johnson that he and his staff can improve a bit there.

"We can be better at it. I can be better at it, for sure," he said before elaborating.

"There's definitely some things to discuss in terms of, what you would challenge, in terms of circumstances the game, whether it's taking points off the board, putting points on the board, fouls, who's in it, first quarter, fourth quarter, possession, all those types of things," he said. "So we definitely have a lot that goes into the decision... A lot of plays are bang-bang... and so some of it also is, will they overturn that versus was it a foul or not? Because the original call can have an effect."

The officials play a big role, and each game is shaped in a big way by how that particular crew is calling that particular game. Asked if that has been hard to adjust to night in and night out, Johnson both kept it a buck and wisely avoided any fines from the league office.

"Good question," he said with a toothy grin. "I don't know. I mean, I think we want every call. I think [the opponent] we're playing wants every call, and 80% of it we're probably both right. I don't know. I mean, we've won some close games. We've lost some close games, and I don't think the officiating has been the reason why."

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