u/Dazzling-Deer-7325

Coming into the season, the media landscape had Spurs securing the 6th seed at best. My personal expectation was to get out of the 1st round, with “exceeding expectations” if we got out of the 2nd round. We accomplished that. Whatever happens next is all gravy. Our young guys are getting absolutely priceless playoff experience, tacking on at least 4 more games against the reigning NBA champions. Super proud of this team from top to bottom, Pop to Biyombo.

With that being said, I’m watching 300 tonight, looking at Game 3 ticket prices, and getting effing ready to cheer on my Spurs. Go Spurs Go!!!!!!

Pretext: I am not a Fox hater. I’m fine with his contract, he deserves it and it mostly makes sense for our cap timeline and us acquiring him via a forced trade. I’m also fine with him, and anyone else on the team, having a bad shooting night. It’s (playoff) basketball, it happens. What I’m not fine with was his defensive effort last night. In fact, I’m furious. Without going back and looking at the tape, the most egregious moments I remember were Fox unnecessarily sagging off Shannon Jr for an open 3, and not boxing out Reid late in the 4th for a game changing putback. He was a turnstile with minimal effort.

The lead: Dylan Harper looked like the absolute better player last night compared to Fox, on offense and especially defense. He locked down whoever he was guarding, he shuffled his feet and stayed in front like a mad man. On offense, he got to the basket with handles, speed, and composure. He created for his teammates. He looked everything like Manu last night.

Disclaimers: Harper has had brilliant moments these playoffs, and had a great game last night. He will have shit games in the future, and Fox will have awesome games in the future.

But Harper is growing so quickly in these playoffs, it felt like a shift had happened last night - like a hill had been climbed, or a torch passed.

If he can maintain this level of play, which is A) hard! and B) must be proven over time, then he’s just a better player than Fox.

Prediction: I still think Fox will start all next season, including through the playoffs. But I think by year after, aka Dylan’s 3rd year, it’s going to be an open conversation on if Dylan should start and Fox runs the 2nd unit. Dylan’s growth will dictate all of this, as will Fox’s defense.

He took Ant 1:1 in the clutch and stayed in front of him. To the point where we didn’t have to immediately double Ant - Dylan allowed help defenders to stick closer to their man vs a true double. That threw a big wrench in their ball movement and 3P scoring. Dylan’s box score is below average at best, but he’s my #2 MVP tonight behind Victor.