On Saturday evening, the San Antonio Spurs punched their ticket to the final round of the NBA Cup tournament with a win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Las Vegas. The game marked the return of Victor Wembanyama to the lineup, albeit on a minutes restriction, and also ended the Thunder's 16-game winning streak.
Late in the game, the Spurs were nursing a three-point lead throughout most of the last 30 seconds, and instead of letting the Thunder attempt a game-tying three-point shot, San Antonio opted to repeatedly foul them and put Oklahoma City on the line, which ended up paying dividends in the end.
After the game, Mike Finger of the San Antonio Express-News reported on head coach Mitch Johnson's thoughts on that, especially considering that fouling up three was never something that his former mentor Gregg Popovich was a proponent of.
“I just asked Mitch about defying the famous principles of his predecessor and mentor. He laughed and said he thought it was the right play,” reported Finger on Bluesky.
The “should you foul up three?” debate is one as old as the game of basketball itself (or at least, dating back to the three-point line's institution), and the Spurs worked the strategy to a tee on Saturday, although they did get some help when Chet Holmgren missed a free throw he meant to make, and when Jalen Williams made a free throw he meant to miss.
There was also some controversy on the final rebound action of the game, when Devin Vassell appeared to push Alex Caruso under the basket, with nothing being called.
In any case, the Thunder will face the Spurs two more times in the coming weeks. The first of those matchups will occur on Christmas Day in what will be a raucous environment in Oklahoma City.
