{"id":1973761,"date":"2026-06-05T11:30:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T08:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1973761"},"modified":"2026-06-05T11:30:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T08:30:35","slug":"spurs-must-trust-dylan-harper-or-deaaron-fox-with-the-ball-down-the-stretch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1973761","title":{"rendered":"Spurs must trust Dylan Harper or De\u2019Aaron Fox with the ball down the stretch"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SAN ANTONIO \u2014 This is Wemby\u2019s World, to be sure.<\/p>\n

The city, the franchise, its stellar history and fan base \u2014 they all now move to Victor Wembanyama\u2019s syncopation, as they all should. The music and chanting and everything that transpires at Frost Bank Center for the home team \u2014 along with, again, the winning \u2014 is Wemby-centric. The Spurs will not win the NBA championship over a gritty and grimy New York Knicks team if Wembanyama doesn\u2019t play otherworldly basketball, as he has throughout this season and the first three rounds of the playoffs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He did not in Game 1.<\/a><\/p>\n

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But the Spurs also won\u2019t win if they don\u2019t put more faith \u2014 and, the ball \u2014 in the hands of their two capable point guards, rookie Dylan Harper and veteran De\u2019Aaron Fox, down the stretch. It\u2019s not an either-or. It\u2019s a calibration to make sure the offense is initiated in the best way to manipulate the Knicks\u2019 defense.<\/p>\n

Wednesday, San Antonio\u2019s late-game offense ground to a halt. Wembanyama, being Wembanyama, still made a few incredible plays, including an uber-physical and-1 over Karl-Anthony Towns with 3:24 left. Two Wemby free throws a little more than a minute later gave San Antonio a 95-94 lead, but the Spurs didn\u2019t score in the final 2:16 of play in a 105-95 loss.<\/p>\n

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The Spurs\u2019 ball movement, one of their trademarks all season, ground to a halt as Wembanyama tried to challenge the Knicks\u2019 loaded-up defense. Part of that stemmed from the Spurs not being able to get out in transition, as they had in the first half, but the fourth quarter was also one where the Spurs needed Fox\u2019s trips into the paint and Harper\u2019s amazing-for-a-rookie poise around the basket more than they needed Wembyanama looking to attack off the dribble.<\/p>\n

The Spurs scored 27 points in the first 10 and a half minutes of Game 1, getting all manner of great looks. They managed just 68 points in the final 37:30 of play. San Antonio, as it has done at times this season, sat Harper on the bench down the stretch, subbing out of the game for good with 4:04 left in the fourth in favor of Devin Vassell.<\/p>\n

\u201cDylan did not finish the game by nothing he did or did not do,\u201d Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said Thursday. \u201cIt was a decision I made. I understand that there would be logic in having Dylan in that group. I thought that group that was out there did some things during that stretch, and that\u2019s what I rolled with.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Spurs have also played Harper, Stephon Castle and Fox together in crunch-time lineups during the postseason, so it\u2019s not like putting the rock in one of Harper\u2019s or Fox\u2019s hands would be new. And Harper, the second pick in last year\u2019s draft, has been more than credible in his NBA postseason debut, including scoring 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor, along with 8 rebounds, in 27 minutes off the bench in Game 1.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI feel like everyone wants to be out there in those times and close the game out,\u201d Harper said Thursday. \u201cBut, I mean, we won 62 games, we made it this far. So I\u2019m going to keep on trusting the coaching staff, trusting Mitch, and just having that trust that they know what\u2019s best for the team. And if they think that\u2019s the best thing for the team and helps us win the most, then I\u2019m all for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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{“endpoint”:”https:\/\/api-prd-nyt.theathletic.com\/graphql”}<\/p>\n

Harper has been everything he was advertised to be coming out of Rutgers<\/a>: a smooth, efficient point guard with franchise-player potential. Fox, acquired from the Kings in February of 2025, has been inconsistent at times while he adjusts from a team where he was expected to be a primary scorer to one where everybody eats.<\/p>\n

The noise from some quarters that the Spurs must ultimately pick between Harper or Fox as a primary ballhandler ignores the team\u2019s storied history.<\/p>\n

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Hall of Fame guards Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili flourished together for 15 seasons, with Ginobili stunting his likely production had he demanded starter\u2019s minutes by agreeing to come off the bench for Gregg Popovich for the bulk of his career. It was not easy for him to accept, but he did it \u2014 and still got to Springfield.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was not (like) I was given an option; it was, you\u2019re f\u2014ing coming off the bench,\u201d Ginobili told The Athletic<\/em> in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was unfair,\u201d Ginobili said. \u201cI didn\u2019t love it. I understood it, sort of. I said, \u2018All right, he\u2019s the coach, and I\u2019ll run with it. I\u2019ll try to be the most productive I can be.\u2019 So at the beginning, I didn\u2019t like it. It took me a few months, maybe a whole season, I don\u2019t remember exactly. And then, I think I went back to being a starter, briefly. And for a few years, once a year, he would come to me and say, \u2018Manu, we need to (do it again).\u2019 And then I started to say, \u2018OK Pop, no problem; I\u2019ll be fine, if you think it\u2019s the right way.\u2019 The part of starting that I didn\u2019t love is that the game started too slow, that we needed to go through Tim (Duncan) a lot early, then Tony had the ball in his hands. So I felt like going back to the bench at minute six, I didn\u2019t do s\u2013t. And I was, like, pissed.\u201d<\/p>\n

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This season, the Spurs were in the top 10 in assists per game, at more than 28. Through the first three rounds of the playoffs, they still distributed more than 25 dimes per contest. But in Game 1 against New York, that total plummeted to 16. Not nearly good enough. The ball didn\u2019t move, so the Knicks didn\u2019t have to, either. Allowing the likes of Josh Hart, OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges free rein to rake at drivers or on post-ups is chum in the Knicks\u2019 defensive waters.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to have a feel for it and see who\u2019s got it going, who\u2019s got the rhythm,\u201d Castle said after Game 1. \u201cMatchups are definitely important, too. That\u2019s why it\u2019s always beneficial when a couple of us are out there together. Vic creates advantages whether he\u2019s on the ball or off the ball, so (we\u2019re) just really trying to make the right play for the possession.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not coincidence the Spurs\u2019 turnover hemorrhage in the first two games of the Western Conference finals series with the Oklahoma City Thunder slowed dramatically after Fox returned from the high ankle sprain he suffered against the Timberwolves in the second round. Fox struggled shooting the ball in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday, going just 3-of-13 from the floor, but a lot of the misses were shots Fox normally makes in his sleep.<\/p>\n

The sweet spot, then, is letting Fox and Harper dictate the terms of the possession with their ballhandling and\/or size, force the Knicks to slide their feet in response, then incorporate Wembanyama on the move, where his length lets him inhale the space towards the basket. The Spurs were just 6-of-21 from the floor in the fourth quarter, and 2-of-10 on 3s, with five turnovers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a balance to it,\u201d Fox said Thursday. \u201cBut for us, when we have ball movement, getting the defense to rotate, it naturally comes back to the guys that it\u2019s supposed to come back to. We\u2019re not necessarily thinking, obviously, unless Vic\u2019s like, \u2018I want the ball,\u2019 or he\u2019s getting to a spot and he\u2019s demanding the ball. Other than that, we have a pretty free-flowing offense, where paint touches are key. And then when we get the defense moving, Vic gets easy shots. He doesn\u2019t have to go one-on-one or have to fight the physicality the whole time. That, or Dylan gets a layup. Or Dev gets a 3.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The goal is to put the Knicks on their heels for multiple rotations, rather than allowing them to see what\u2019s coming or react to a single pass and shot. It doesn\u2019t matter if that shot is a corner 3 if New York can close out on the shooter easily.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defense isn\u2019t moving when that happens,\u201d Spurs\u2019 swingman Julian Champagnie said. \u201cWe want to get the defense in rotations. That\u2019s how you end up getting open 3s, and then you get to drive and make a read. And that\u2019s kind of where the best 3s come from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone in this town knows this Spurs team goes as Wembanyama goes. That doesn\u2019t change just because it\u2019s the NBA Finals, or because the Spurs are playing a Knicks team that hasn\u2019t lost a game in a month. The stakes are higher, but the method for achieving them is the same.<\/p>\n

Get the ball moving.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2014 This is Wemby\u2019s World, to be sure. The city, the franchise, its stellar history and fan base \u2014 they all now move to Victor Wembanyama\u2019s syncopation, as they all should. The music and chanting and everything that transpires at Frost Bank Center for the home team \u2014 along with, again, the winning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1973761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1973761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1973761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1973761\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1973761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1973761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1973761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}