One of the biggest takeaways from the New York Knicks’ come-from-behind win in Game 1 of the 2026 NBA Finals is that the San Antonio Spurs blew it by leaving rookie guard Dylan Harper on the bench in crunch-time.
The Spurs chose to ride with their $230 million man De’Aaron Fox in the last four minutes of regulation, and he missed an easy jump shot and then bailed out the Knicks with a stupid foul that helped swing the game for New York. Fox ended the night with seven points on 3-of-13 shooting in 38 minutes, while Harper was electric off the bench with 16 points. Right now, Harper feels like the better player even though he’s just 20 years old.
A strange TikTok popped up on Dylan Harper’s page the day after the game. Harper reposted a video with the title “De’Aaron Fox seen honoring playoff James Harden after shooting one of his statline.” The video showed Fox’s 3-for-13 box score line next to Harden’s 3-for-13 line in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Game 2 loss to the Detroit Pistons in the first round. The video is no longer on Harper’s page, but multiple people confirmed it was indeed there earlier.
Watch the video here:
The most likely explanation here is that Harper accidentally reposted the video to his page without realizing what he was doing.
Harper played 28 minutes in Game 1. Fox played 38 minutes. If Harper continues to be more effective, head coach Mitch Johnson will have to make a tough decision to sit a veteran for a rookie.
Harden is a famous playoff dropper. I wouldn’t put Fox in that category yet, but he hasn’t been very good during this Spurs run. In his defense, Fox has been playing through an ankle sprain that he suffered in the Western Conference Finals. Harper is also playing through an abductor injury.
I wouldn’t blame Harper is he felt frustrated with his role in Game 1 especially after such a hot start. He can’t air his grievances on social media, even if it was by accident. Chalk this up to a rookie mistake by Harper. He doesn’t make many of them.
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