The San Antonio Spurs came within three wins of winning an NBA championship this season, but they ultimately fell short against the New York Knicks. Game 5 was yet another missed opportunity, as the Spurs gave away a double-digit lead for the fourth time in the series in a 94-90 loss.
Despite the loss, the Spurs emerged from this playoff run knowing that they have a future superstar point guard. At just 20 years old, Dylan Harper was a beast throughout his first playoff run, capping his rookie year with impressive performance after impressive performance to help lead the Spurs to the NBA Finals.
After Game 5, Harper talked about the experience he gained from the postseason, even in the tough defeat, via Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News.
“We all learned a lot in this playoff run,” Harper said. “A lot of people counted us out and we proved people wrong. It didn’t go how we wanted to go, but we definitely learned a lot.”
While Harper was one of the best players in silver and black throughout the NBA Finals, he still had his moments of youth at the end of Game 5. He missed a makeable finish at the rim that would have tied the game late, and he also missed a pair of free throws (the second may have been intentional) in the final seconds.
Still, it’s clear that Harper is already one of the top guards in basketball and is a future star that the Spurs can build around. He finished Game 5 with 25 points on 10-of-19 shooting, leading the team in scoring in its biggest game of the year. He had five 20-point playoff games this year despite coming off the bench for most of the run, so those numbers should only skyrocket in a bigger role.
The Spurs have a tough decision to make with De’Aaron Fox this offseason, in part because of his poor play and in part because of Harper’s excellence. But one thing is clear. Harper is too good to have a bench role once again heading into his second season.
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