Mitch Johnson emphatically shuts down two major Spurs fan concerns with one quote

Mitch Johnson has been earning his credit all season long, and his coaching ability was on full display at the Scotiabank Arena in Canada tonight. Too many have erroneously accused him of not making in-game adjustments. Those people are having a bad day. The Raptors were on a roll in the second half and looked poised to take the first game from the Spurs since that ugly Hornets loss on January 31.

That was until Dylan Harper was summoned like Thor's hammer to play most of the 4th quarter—a change from normal rotations. Deservedly, Steph Castle has gotten a lot of love lately. He's played well offensively and defended well, but the team needed a spark to get out of Toronot with a win, and San Antonio's puppet master pulled the right strings.

Despite Castle's strong sophomore year, he's still learning, and cynics have feared that a bad offensive stretch from the reigning Rookie of the Year will cost the Spurs in big moments. Mitch just showed us that he's willing to make adjustments to prevent that from happening. That should be a comfort to fans everywhere.

Mitch Johnson is checking all of the boxes of a good coach

Some of the Silver and Black's biggest critics come from inside the fan base. They want Coach Johnson on the sidelines yelling more because it makes them feel like he's doing something, but that's not how good coaches get the job done. Leading a competitive team can be done with healthy communication, and he thrives in that department.

There is an excess of preparation before the game begins. The players know the game plan backwards and forwards before the ball tips off. During timeouts, you have the conversations you need to have, but you have them rationally. You're dealing with millionaire men. Berating them isn't the only way to get through to them, and we've seen it more than enough times to silence the noise.

That would be a perfect world, though. Negativity will never cease in life, so why would it stop in sports? It's necessary for balance. It's the whole yin-yang/good vs. evil thing. Maybe it'll at least quiet down if the first-year head coach wins a championship, but still... probably not.

Gregg Popovich is widely regarded as one of, if not the best, coaches in NBA history, and he still got crap from fans. Five titles wasn't enough to satiate the appetite pessimists have to criticize. I guess that's the lesson here. Live your life and do your best to your ability, and live with the results, because the critics are going to slander you regardless of your success.

Thrive anyway. That's what Mitch Johnson is doing.