'Nowhere to Conserve Energy': Mitch Johnson Defines Spurs’ Relentless Brand of Basketball

SAN ANTONIO — Mitch Johnson was furious, and he had good reason.

In the fourth quarter of a tightly contested NBA Cup Final, Knicks guard Tyler Kolek tried to take a charge on a rolling Luke Kornet. Kolek flew to the floor as Julian Champagnie's 3 swished through the net, and the official called Kornet for the offensive foul.

Johnson called timeout, primarily to challenge the call but also to properly explode at the officiating crew. He expressed his displeasure vociferously, using vocabulary that even the most novice lip reader could see fit the criteria for a technical foul.

It was the most impassioned Johnson has been this season, now off to an impressive 20-7 start in his first full year as coach of the San Antonio Spurs. The coach who told his guys earlier in the year to embrace the mundane rarely wears his heart on his sleeve, and the fact that he blew his top showed how big the moment was for him and his team.

The intensity that drives San Antonio's hot start to the season can be seen on their coach's face when he's calm and collected too, and that's the vast majority of the time. He talks to his guys as loudly as possible without barking, and as often as possible without micromanaging. He is a process-oriented person like his predecessor, and he's a problem solver with a mind for modern basketball and a direct approach.

The Spurs fell just short of their goal of winning the NBA Cup, but they announced themselves as truly dangerous team with a win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. That game and the final against the Knicks rank as the most physical of the year for this young San Antonio team, and their ability to continue that tough play will be crucial as they set their sights on the postseason for the first time in a long time.

Johnson has always said that the team will take the identity of its best player, Victor Wembanyama. The time Wemby spent recovering from a calf strain gave us a nice long look at what Johnson can do as a coach with his MVP candidate missing for a month. His Spurs went 9-3 with one of the league's best offenses and some impressive wins on the road over the Nuggets and Lakers.

When Wembanyama returned for the semifinal against the defending champions, Johnson managed his limited minutes and a tight end of the game to perfection as San Antonio sent shockwaves through the NBA with the win over OKC.

After falling to the physically dominant Knicks in the final San Antonio returned home for a night to face the Washington Wizards, who came into the contest 4-20. With all the calling cards of a classic trap game, the Spurs showed their maturity and depth as they pulled away for the blowout win in the second half.

No Spur played more than 26 minutes in their 25-point win over the Wizards, and nobody appeared on San Antonio's injury report ahead of tipoff in Atlanta the next day. Victor Wembanyama managed 15 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four blocks in just 17 minutes.

Players like Jeremy Sochan and Carter Bryant saw the floor for the first time since Johnson tightened his rotation for the NBA Cup. In order to maintain this level and style of play through the end of the regular season, Johnson knows he'll need contributions from up and down the roster. Compromising on commitment is not an option.

"Our brand of basketball, what we're trying to demand of these guys, there is nowhere to conserve energy," said Johnson, who then went into great detail about that brand of basketball in a detailed run-on sentence that serves as a good metaphor for that brand in its structure and delivery.

"The way we want to play, obviously defensively, and have pressure and presence on the basketball and fly around, and the way we want to gang rebound, and then transition that into playing fast offensively where almost anybody can bring up the ball, and we want kick aheads and everybody to flatten the court, we want to keep pace, and then we want to crash and rebound offensively, and now you've got to get back defensively," Johnson said.

"It's taxing, and so I think to say the least we're aware of that, which means we need to trust our depth and play bodies, and need everyone to be able to step up and understand that that brand of basketball may not always look the same based on the five guys on the court, but that consistent theme of the principles that we are not negotiating on should be true as often as possible," he said.

The next night in Atlanta, Johnson's Spurs hit all of those notes for the whole game. Out of the gate they locked in defensively and made hit ahead passes. Devin Vassell, born in Suwanee, Georgia, fired from deep early in the clock with a green light. When he missed on his third attempt Luke Kornet grabbed an offensive board and Vassell swished on the reload.

Stephon Castle, born in Covington, Ga., would not be outdone. He dialed in from deep, muscled into the paint, and dimed his teammates all over the floor. San Antonio closed the first quarter on an 11-2 run to open up a 13-point lead. They kept their feet on the gas for the whole night.

The Spurs flew around and pressured the basketball defensively, forcing 17 turnovers. They got out in transition, scoring 24 points on the break. They crashed the glass, winning the boards 56-43 and securing 12 offensive rebounds.

Dylan Harper played with pace and attacked the rim effortlessly. Keldon Johnson injected his trademarked energy and effort. Harrison Barnes broke his impossibly long streak of missed 3-point attempts.

Wembanyama looked every bit his alien self, with too many plays to count where he simply overwhelmed the Hawks with his size and/or skill. He finished with 26 points on 15 shots, 12 rebounds, three assists and two blocks. That's now 100 games in a row with a block, the third-longest such streak of all time.

A double-double night for @wemby!

📊: 26 PTS, 12 REB, 3 AST, 2 BLK pic.twitter.com/p2K2d0iMUc
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) December 20, 2025

San Antonio stumbled just a bit out of halftime, and they responded well after Johnson called a quick timeout. They won the third quarter 34-28 and built their lead as big as 38.

Johnson trusted his depth and emptied his bench, and the players out ther stayed true to the same principles that have gotten this team to where they are. Kelly Olynyk played some rugged defense, Jordan McLaughlin attacked the rim, and Lindy Waters III hit his shots. Carter Bryant and Jeremy Sochan showed their bounce and versatiliy. Nobody on the floor treated it like garbage time.

No Spur played over 27 minutes in the 126-98 win. In the fourth quarter of blowouts, maybe Johnson has found a place for his core guys to conserve energy after all. Not him, though.

With two minutes left and a 30-point lead, Johnson remained locked in with a quiet intensity. He talked to his assistants about the play in front of them, then stood up to shout direction and encouragement to his team.

The relentlessness, it seems, will only continue.

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