The Spurs go into Game 3 of the Finals down 0-2 to the Knicks, and Keldon Johnson is one of the players they need to change the series. San Antonio did not get enough from him in the first two games, and the bench forward now has to supply more size, energy and production if the Spurs are going to make this a fight.
That urgency is showing up in the numbers around Johnson, who averaged 13.2 points and 5.4 rebounds in the regular season but has not carried that form into the playoffs. His minutes are down, his scoring efficiency has fallen off a cliff and he has had trouble finishing inside, leaving the Spurs short in the exact areas they hoped he would stabilize.
Johnson was not brought through this season as a luxury piece. He won Sixth Man of the Year because he gave the offense a real lift and handled the little things that matter in a rotation player. San Antonio entered the year knowing the big forward spot was a weakness, and Johnson was part of the answer because the Knicks are a brutal matchup for a team that lacks size at the forward spots.
The problem is that the answer has not held up in the playoffs. Johnson has been bad except for a few games, and his rebounding is not the strength it once was, which matters even more when the Spurs are trying to keep up with a Knicks team that can punish them on the glass and around the rim. Mitch Johnson has already used Harrison Barnes, Johnson and rookie Carter Bryant at power forward at different points, a sign of how unsettled that spot remains.
San Antonio has tried other fixes, too. Julian Champagnie started at power forward and gave the Spurs stronger rebounding, more switchability and more dangerous shooting, while Dylan Harper has eased some of the damage by providing bench scoring and rebounding. But with the series now at the point where every possession matters, the Spurs still need Keldon Johnson to do the job they expected when they built this roster around his energy and physicality.
Before Game 3, FanDuel listed Johnson at -102 to record at least 8.5 combined points and rebounds, with the odds of him missing that mark set at -130. That is a thin edge for a player the Spurs need to be more than a number on a betting sheet. If he gives them the bench lift they have been missing, San Antonio has a way back into the series; if not, the size problem that has hung over the Spurs all season may become the reason the Finals start slipping away for good.
