The San Antonio Spurs crushed the Miami Heat on Monday, and Mitch Johnson outlined how the team has managed to stay on top of any issues.
The San Antonio Spurs destroyed the Miami Heat on Monday night, winning 136-111. It was the first of three road games in a row, and the Spurs couldn't have asked for a better start to a trip.
The Spurs made franchise history, nabbing 71 rebounds. That's the most since the Spurs have grabbed since 1992, and they were able to keep Miami out of the paint the entire game.
In large part thanks to Victor Wembanyama's defense, the Spurs shut down any offensive attack Miami tried to muster. However, it wasn't just the Wmeby show, as both Keldon Johnson and Dylan Harper scored 21 points off the bench.
The Spurs' bench is good for 41.4 points per game, eighth in the league, and against the Heat, they posted 69 second-unit points. After the game, their adaptability earned some high praise.
Spurs Can Kill Opponents With Variety
When the Spurs play against a bruising, interior-dominating team like the Detroit Pistons, they can rain in shots from deep. When teams space the floor on defense, Luke Kornet, Wembanyama, Harper, and Johnson have no problem getting to the rim.
The Spurs can exploit any weakness and combat anything an opponent throws their way, and they aren't just limited to the starting five. The bench is just as versatile.
"I think we try to develop and evolve skill sets that can mix and match," explained Mitch Johnson of the Spurs' bench success this season. "So handler, screener, shooter, spacer, roller, popper; the more people that can do those types of things, dribble, pass, shoot, the more you can plug and play different combinations and configurations."
Johnson, Harper, Kornet, Harrison Barnes, and even Carter Bryant would be starters on most other NBA teams, and the Spurs' leading scorer off the bench can change on any given night.
"Depending on how other teams guard you, whether that's matchups or coverage, and schematically, good teams are going to take, and all teams at times are going to try to take away something," Johnson added. "Good teams do a good job and take away certain things. And I think we've done a great job all year of embracing that and understanding whatever they take away, that means there's something else out there that we need to continue to find and look for and try to take advantage of."