It's easy to come out of Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals with only Wemby on the brain. Do you focus on the defensive presence that threw off Oklahoma City's entire roster, save for Alex Caruso? Or the Steph Curryesque three-pointer at the end of overtime? Or the aura farming in front of his awed teammates? Victor Wembanyama gave everyone what they wanted on Monday night, which is why it falls to me to ignore the nine-foot-tall alien and ask a very important question: Dylan Harper, are you serious?
In any other game, on any other night, with any other teammate, Harper would be the story coming out of Game 1. Having come off the bench for most of the season and all of the playoffs so far, the rookie from Rutgers notched his first postseason start on Monday, thanks to a late scratch for De'Aaron Fox (ankle soreness). And what a time for that to happen: Game 1, on the road, against the defending champions. The Spurs were very patient with Harper this season, letting him grow without overexerting him (he only averaged 22 minutes per game in the regular season, a figure that only increased to around 25 minutes through the first two rounds of the playoffs). That patience, and Harper's growth not just as a scorer but as an all-around star-in-the-making, paid off on Monday: 24 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, and a ludicrous seven steals. Even that stat line doesn't do a complete job of hyping up the best game of Harper's young career.
Allow me to give you an unorthodox point of evidence. While all of the Wemby moments will live on in my brain, I am going to also remember a play from Harper that didn't even end in a basket. With 45 seconds left in the fourth quarter, and the score knotted at 97-97, Harper received the ball on the left wing with just five seconds remaining on the shot clock. (Quick aside: The Spurs offense towards the end of the fourth quarter was hot ass. Just truly terrible ball-stopping and forced passes that were as awkward as they were harmful.)
Harper first tried to drive towards the baseline in order to use his finishing ability at the rim to give the Spurs back the lead, but that route was cut off by Ajay Mitchell, so Harper crossed back towards the middle of the floor and tripped. He somehow remained in enough control of his body to keep the ball within reach and pop up, which is when panic set in, briefly. He tried to jump-pass to Julian Champagnie, who was open on the right wing, but that was deflected and the ball, once again, departed his immediate vicinity. Harper was then able to get it back, outmuscle Mitchell's lunge for it, and get a semblance of a shot up with 0.5 seconds left on the shot clock. More importantly, in that scramble, he ended up getting fouled by Chet Holmgren. He damn near made the shot, too:
Harper's body control, and his ability to move the ball in and out from his core at full speed, is ridiculous. He leveraged that control on plenty of layups and kick-outs when the Spurs needed him most, but it was this wild scramble that had me hooting. How in the world did Harper remain close enough to the ball to gather it and draw the foul? I don't know that even Harper knows the answer, but on Monday he shrugged off any questions that might come a rookie's way in such a big spot. Instead, he asked some of his own. Such as: Is he already San Antonio's second-best player? Is he the perfect co-star for the Wembanyama era? Is it fair that the Spurs somehow lucked into both him and Stephon Castle in the two drafts after drafting Wemby? Are nepo babies good, actually? (In order: No, but he might be as soon as next season; yes; no, but I'm sure the league loved it; I guess so.)
Harper isn't perfect, of course. No 20-year-old playing at this high of a level, with these high of stakes, could be. He shot 40 percent on the night and his individual defense, despite the seven steals, led to a decent splash of points from the Thunder. There's room to grow, in other words, but it's thrilling to watch Harper find new angles in real time. On a night when his backcourt partner turned the ball over 11 times, Harper only coughed it up once, playing as close to the edge of control as possible without ever relinquishing it entirely.
Harper also scored the most important non-Wemby bucket of either overtime for the Spurs. Moments after Cason Wallace hit a deep three to bring OKC back within one at 112-111, with just over two minutes left in the second overtime, Harper received the ball much in the same place as the above play. This time, though, he remained fully in control as he faked towards the baseline on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, then cut back towards the paint. That drew Alex Caruso off of Wemby, which could have made for an easy dump-off by Harper, but instead the rook just scooted through Caruso's help and powered up to lay the ball in. He also got whacked in the face by both Caruso and SGA. Harper still made the and-1 to put the Spurs back up four.
I know that there's only so much room in the collective memory, and Game 1 should rightfully be remembered as the Wemby Game. I don't want to take away from that. But I hope that when the story of this game is told in the future, it can also be told from the perspective of a damn rookie elevating himself by sheer force of talent and will into stardom. Dylan Harper can truly do it all, and on Monday, he did it all well enough to set the stage for Wemby's explosion. The Spurs don't win that game without Victory Wembanyama, of course, but I'm not sure Victor Wembanyama gets that opportunity without Dylan Harper.
