Peter Okereke
Dylan Harper and the San Antonio Spurs came within three wins of clinching 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 threw away a double-digit lead for the fourth time in the series in Saturday’s 94-90 loss.
But despite the defeat, the Spurs emerged from this playoffs knowing that they have a future superstar point guard on their books. At just 20 years old, Dylan Harper was a beast throughout his first playoff run, capping his rookie year with consecutive impressive performances to help lead the team to the NBA Finals.
After Game 5, Harper talked about the experience he gained from the postseason despite 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.”
Although Dylan 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 in the final seconds.
Nevertheless, it’s clear that Harper is already one of the top guards in basketball and is a future star that the San Antonio Spurs can build around.
He finished Game 5 against the Knicks with 25 points on 10-of-19 shooting, leading the Spurs 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 would only skyrocket in a bigger role.
