Spurs G Dylan Harper’s blunt message about “chemistry” over experience vs. Knicks

Critics often point to the San Antonio Spurs’ lack of experience. But in mentioning their youth, what’s not often discussed is their joyful togetherness. Mowing through the tough Western Conference playoffs on the way to the NBA Finals suggests that it’s served, at least, some value for them. Following a Game 3 victory vs the New York Knicks, Dylan Harper discussed the Spurs’ chemistry.

“I feel like we hang out outside of basketball a lot as a team, do things like team dinners, or we play games as a team. I feel like those kinds of events and things like that make up for the years that we weren’t together or the years that we haven’t had,” San Antonio’s super rookie said.

Facing a must-win, essentially down 0-2, the Spurs faced the tough task of winning at raucous Madison Square Garden, which was hosting a Finals game for the first time since 1999.

“So the biggest thing, I feel like, is chemistry when you get in a building like this, when you get in an environment like this,” Harper continued. “I feel like we have the most chemistry and camaraderie and togetherness as anyone else.”

Dylan Harper details Spurs team vibe

As they had in the first two games of the series, the Spurs ran out to a good lead early. Unlike those first contests, they did it on the road.

“We just stay together in environments like this,” Harper said. “The biggest thing, when we come to away games in the playoffs, for us at least, it’s been just staying together and holding each other accountable.”

A 3-0 deficit would’ve served as a death knell for San Antonio. No NBA team has ever recovered from that deficit, let alone in the Finals. But, even for the young Spurs, it wasn’t totally foreign territory. They won both games at the Portland Trail Blazers in a first-round series that was tied at one, closed out the Minnesota Timberwolves in Minneapolis, and did the same to the Oklahoma City Thunder in a momentous victory that eliminated the defending champion in their own gym.

“With the level of desperation and desire that we played with, I feel like we’re pretty hard to beat when we do that,” Harper shared.

Having shifted the series with the Game 3 victory, the Spurs are now in a position to totally reset the world championship match-up. A win in Game 4 all but erases the Knicks’ two victories at the Frost Bank Center because it would transform these NBA Finals into a best-of-three with two scheduled for the Alamo City.

“The biggest advantage, I think we understand who we are,” Harper revealed. “We understand what we need to do to win games in this type of environment. I feel like for us it’s to keep stacking possessions on possessions and just staying together and being a team.”

Harper and the young Spurs now await the next game in a series that has seen the last two decided by a combined five points and all three by 15.

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