Spurs Rookie Dylan Harper Joins Larry Bird and Julius Erving in Wild Conference Finals First
Dylan Harper just put his name in a sentence with Larry Bird and Julius Erving. As a rookie. In his first Conference Finals game. With De’Aaron Fox in street clothes.
Harper stuffed the box score in San Antonio’s 122-115 double overtime win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals: 24 points, 11 rebounds, 7 steals, and 6 assists. Those 7 steals were the most by any rookie in a Conference Finals game in NBA history.
Here is the rare company part. Since steals became an official stat in 1973-74, only three players have posted at least 20 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 steals in a Conference Finals game. Larry Bird did it. Julius Erving did it. Now Dylan Harper has done it, and he is 20 years old.
The Spurs did not just need Harper to fill a stat sheet. They needed him to start. Fox sat out Game 1 with an ankle injury, and Harper was the next man up alongside Stephon Castle in the backcourt. He responded by carving Oklahoma City for 48 minutes plus 10 of overtime and never looked like a rookie playing on the road in the Conference Finals.
You can argue Harper is the best rookie surprise of this entire postseason. He was a top-three pick last summer because every scout said his playmaking, size, and feel for the game would translate. Nobody said he was going to be the Spurs’ second-best player against the defending champs.
The Bird and Erving comparison is fun, but the more relevant one might be Charles Barkley. Harper became the first rookie since Barkley in 1985 to post a 20-point double-double in the Conference Finals, joining a five-man club that also includes Anthony Roberts, Bird, and Magic Johnson. That is the kind of company that builds a career narrative.
Victor Wembanyama got most of the headlines after dropping 41 points and 24 rebounds, and he deserved them. But Wembanyama does not get to celebrate his Spurs heading home with home-court advantage if Harper does not match him with the secondary scoring and playmaking the Thunder dared the Spurs to find.
The bigger question now is whether Harper can keep it up. Oklahoma City will adjust. Mark Daigneault will throw different looks at him. The Thunder lost Game 1 in stunning fashion and they have lost back-to-back playoff games exactly once this entire postseason. They will fight back.
But here is the thing about rookies who play like this in May. They tend to keep playing like this. Harper is composed in a way that 20-year-olds rarely are. He picks his spots, he reads passing lanes like a veteran, and he gets to the rim without forcing anything.
The Spurs are seven wins from a championship. They have Wembanyama. They probably get Fox back for Game 2. And they have a rookie who just put himself on the same statistical line as two Hall of Famers in his Conference Finals debut. That is a very dangerous combination.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
