Harper scores 27 off bench, rallies Wemby-less Spurs in Game 3

PORTLAND, Ore. — As a left-handed guard who comes off the bench, Spurs rookie Dylan Harper said he gravitated toward a fellow lefty sixth man in San Antonio legend Manu Ginobili, who now works for the organization as a special advisor.

“I play a role I’m not used to [off the bench],” Harper said after the Spurs’ 120-108 win over the Portland Trail Blazers in Friday night’s Game 3, “but he kind of put in my head that you’ve got to impact the game in any way you can.”

With Victor Wembanyama sitting out as he works through the protocol from a concussion suffered in Game 2, Harper was able to do just that Friday night, teaming with second-year guard Stephon Castle to lead San Antonio to a come-from-behind victory and take a 2-1 series lead.

Harper and Castle became the second pair of teammates age 21 or younger to each score 25 points or more in a playoff game, with Harper coming off the bench to deliver 27 points and Castle scoring a game-high 33. They joined former Oklahoma City Thunder stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, who accomplished the feat in Game 3 of the 2010 opening round against the Los Angeles Lakers, according to ESPN Research.

Harper, who scored 22 of his points in the second half and also grabbed 10 rebounds, became the youngest player (20 years, 53 days) to score 25 points as a reserve in a playoff game.

Harper, who totaled just 16 points in the first two games of the series, said Ginobili has been a mentor to him, adding that the Hall of Famer’s “mentality” is what he tries to emulate most.

“We have conversations about my role and stuff like that,” he said. “It’s next game up. If you have a bad game, once you get out of the shower, it’s next game.”

Castle, who also had five assists, became the youngest in Spurs history (21 years, 174 days) to finish a postseason game with at least 30 points and five assists.

The duo helped the Spurs go on an 18-3 run to overcome a 15-point deficit in the third quarter, their largest playoff comeback since Game 5 of the 2014 NBA Finals. Harper capped the run with a pair of free throws that tied the score at 85.

Harper contributed 12 of San Antonio’s 29 points in the third quarter, shooting 3-of-4 from the field and 5-of-5 from the free throw line. He also had an assist, a steal and a block.

“Super talented, played a downhill game,” Castle said of Harper. “The guy got to his spots. We don’t expect [anything] less [because of] how much work he puts in, how confident he is. Once you play a team a certain amount of times, you start to figure each other out and you just have to grind those games out. Every possession matters.”

Game 3 became a showcase of guard play, with Castle and Harper dueling strong performances from the Trail Blazers’ backcourt of Jrue Holiday (29 points) and Scoot Henderson (21 points).

Holiday’s performance marked his sixth career playoff game with at least 25 points, five rebounds and five assists, according to ESPN Research. Veteran Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox, meanwhile, shook off a slow start to finish with 18 points and six assists.

“We kept working the game,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “I thought over the duration of it, we just stayed with it. We started getting incremental things that were going our way whether we were starting to get a little more downhill offensively, the spacing got better. We started passing the ball over the guys, letting the ball breathe a little bit and kept moving side to side.”