Spurs biggest strength suffers epic disappearing act at worst possible time

After a strong start to Game 3, the San Antonio Spurs saw their 15-0 lead evaporate to the Oklahoma City Thunder. With injuries to both teams, it became a question of who would have enough to pull out Game 3.

In the end, the Thunder proved to be the deeper team. All season, San Antonio has relied heavily on their bench.

Unfortunately, when it has mattered most, it has failed them. We're seeing it in real time. The Thunder outmatch the Spurs, with them being able to go 12 deep easily.

The Spurs bench has failed them when they needed it the most

Some of the Spurs' struggles with their second unit can be attributed to Dylan Harper starting. He started both Game 1 and Game 2, leaving their bench without one of their leading scorers.

Even so, Keldon Johnson and Luke Kornet have failed to pick up the slack. To Johnson's credit, he's been able to knock down threes, but his ability to attack the basket has all but evaporated in the playoffs.

His defense has also been questionable at best, with his physicality often resulting in fouls rather than stops. Then there is Kornet. I sounded the alarm about his play after Game 2, and his play was pretty awful in Game 3.

The Spurs have no clear fixes for their bench against the Thunder

The Thunder are simply deeper than the Spurs, and injuries aren't helping San Antonio. Harper is now back coming off the bench, but the damage may already be done.

Harper is hobbled, Johnson has been a tire fire all playoffs long, and Kornet hasn't been much better.

While the Thunder outscoring the Spurs 183-64 through the first three games is still a bit of an outlier, the result is the same. OKC is deeper, even with Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell both possibly missing Game 4.

The best San Antonio can do is double down on what's working. More minutes for Devin Vassell and Julian Champagnie, all the minutes Fox and Harper can physically handle, and play Stephon Castle and Victor Wembanyama until they drop.

San Antonio should also give Carter Bryant more burn, possibly even replacing Kornet at backup center as well as spending time at the four.

It might not be enough to close the gap between the Spurs' and the Thunder's benches. Instead, the Spurs should play nine and trust seven in hopes of evening the series.

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