Mitch Johnson said he expects injured guards De'Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper to both play Sunday in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals at Frost Bank Center.
Fox and Harper were game-time decisions in Game 3 against Oklahoma City, and Johnson added that both "came out of the game and finished on their own accord" before he pulled them. "I took them out. So, that's a plus," he said, and later: "As of now, we expect them [to be] ready to go."
The numbers underline why their availability matters. Fox scored 15 points in Game 3, added seven rebounds, six assists and a steal, and helped San Antonio open the game with a 15-0 run — a start that nevertheless ended in a loss. Harper played 17 minutes after suffering a right adductor injury in Game 2. Fox played through a right high ankle sprain in Game 3, briefly leaving in the second half after tweaking the ankle before returning to finish the game.
Those starts and returns have a clear series-level impact. Fox missed Games 1 and 2, and the Spurs averaged 22 turnovers in those contests; Oklahoma City scored an average of 27.5 points off those turnovers. When Fox returned in Game 3 the Spurs still surrendered 20 points off 15 turnovers. Second-year guard Stephon Castle has shouldered most of the ballhandling in the series and says fatigue is a factor in his 21 turnovers. "It helps with all we do on the defensive end, and having to initiate our offense with the way [Oklahoma City] guards, over time, it does get tiring. So, to be able to lean on each other throughout the game definitely helps," Castle said.
Johnson did not sugarcoat the players' condition. "Those guys are giving us all they've got, and I commend them, tip my cap, because they're competing their asses off and they're not 100%." Fox was similarly blunt after Game 3: "I feel all right, good enough to play." Victor Wembanyama spoke for teammates watching from near the sideline, saying, "It pains me to see them in pain" and adding, "I trust they're going to be healthy soon."
Game 3 contained another oddity that sharpens the stakes: the Spurs became only the second team since 1997-98 to begin a postseason game on a 15-0 run or better and still lose. For San Antonio, the worry is not only whether Fox and Harper can score or defend while banged up, but whether their presence will meaningfully reduce the turnovers and the easy points Oklahoma City has gotten off them.
The most consequential unanswered question now is whether the Spurs' returnees, playing short of full strength, can cut down the giveaways that handed Oklahoma City an average of 27.5 points from turnovers in the games Fox missed and stop the sequence of miscues that cost them in Game 3.
