Dylan Harper's Crunch Time Benching in NBA Finals G1 Loss to Knicks Explained by Spurs' Johnson

San Antonio Spurs coach Mitch Johnson explained his decision to bench Dylan Harper down the stretch of Wednesday's Game 1 of the NBA Finals after conceding a 105-95 loss to the New York Knicks.

"Dylan had a heck of a game, and he was playing very well... Dylan did not finish the game by nothing that he did or did not do," Johnson said about Harper on Thursday.

"It was a decision I made. I understand that there would be logic in having Dylan in that group, but I thought that group that was out there did some things during the stretch, and that's who I rolled with."

The Knicks closed out the game by going on a 11-0 run after Harper was subbed out with 4:04 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Harper had been one of the Spurs' most efficient players through the first three quarters of Game 1. He contributed 16 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the field while adding eight rebounds and an assist off the bench.

Knicks-Spurs Highlights

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Harper's assist was one of just 16 total recorded Wednesday by the Spurs, who had averaged 25.1 assists per playoff game heading into the Finals.

Like De'Aaron Fox, Johnson cited that stat as something the Spurs needed to improve in Game 2.

"Sixteen assists is not a reflection of this program, ever since I've been here, decades before I was," Johnson said Thursday. "We can be much sharper on just a lot of game-plan execution stuff."

Johnson added: "I think there's a lot of things we can control that are much more approach, game-plan execution driven, that we can improve upon before you even get to, 'What did this guy shoot from the field?'"

Sixth Man of the Year Keldon Johnson also saw just eight minutes on the court in Wednesday's loss.

Mitch Johnson has one day to decide whether he should change his approach before the Spurs are back at it for Game 2 on Friday.