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The New York Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs four games to one last night, overcoming multiple double-digit deficits along the way. While much of New York City and New Jersey celebrate the Knicks’ extinguishing New York’s long title drought across the Big Four sports leagues (stretching back to the Giants in 2011), Rutgers nation can take pride in seeing one of their own step up big time for the Spurs. Dylan Harper not only played extensive minutes, but he looked like the best Spur on the court for large parts of this series.
Despite coming off the bench the entire series, Harper averaged 18 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 3 assists per game. As the series got better, so did the rookie out of Rutgers, with his crowning performance coming in an elimination Game 5 at home. Harper led the team with 25 points while also contributing 5 rebounds and 4 assists while playing 31 minutes off the bench.
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While much of the team struggled, including De’Aaron Fox throughout the series, Harper stepped up in clutch moments and time again. His crafty finishing around the rim caught the eyes of fans nationwide, while his tenacious defending made things difficult for New York throughout the series. He was the second-leading scorer behind Victor Wembanyama in the NBA Finals as a rookie while coming off the bench, which says just about everything you need to know about his career trajectory
If there is one area where the budding star guard could improve, it would be his three-point shooting. Harper got off to a slow start from deep this series, scoring 16 points in Game 1 on 1-4 from downtown. In Game 2, he missed all three attempts from deep while finishing with 15 points, before going 1-8 from long range during Game 3 at MSG. Coincidentally, that was the lone game the Spurs were able to win over the eventual champion Knicks.
Some of those threes were wide open as well, which made me think about just how good Harper could be if he had even a respectable three-point jump shot. In Game 4, Harper went 8-12 from the field and converted 3 of 6 threes, coming up with 21 points despite the Spurs blowing an unfathomable…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/dylan-harper-shines-basketball-biggest-223549653.html
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Publish date : 2026-06-14 22:35:00
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