Exciting De'Aaron Fox development proves that Spurs' window hasn't closed yet

The Spurs fell 0-2 after Friday night's heartbreaking loss to the Knicks, but there was one major positive. De'Aaron Fox put together a solid performance, scoring 20 points on 8-12 shooting and 2-2 from distance. Even when the outcome of the game didn't go in San Antonio's way, Fox's return to solidity is something to be excited about as the series swings over to New York.

His performance was such a relief because, I'm going to be honest, I was getting a bit worried about him. He had a rough Game 1 showing, posting only seven points in 38 minutes of play. And that wasn't an isolated incident; he's struggled with offensive inconsistency for the entirety of the postseason.

But great players know how to respond to critics, and that's exactly what De'Aaron Fox did. He was due for a standout performance, and he showed up like the All-Star point guard that he is. Now it's on him to keep it going.

Fox did exactly what the Spurs paid him to do

De'Aaron Fox's role in San Antonio comes with several responsibilities. Not only does he have to be a reliable source of shot creation, but he also has to give enough space to allow Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle to do their jobs. Through this postseason, he's done well with the latter but struggled with the former.

He's definitely struck a balance and good chemistry with the other Spurs guards, but he hasn't brought that consistent scoring to the table enough in the playoffs. At this stage, San Antonio can't do without the offensive punch that he provides.

Sure, it's great when Castle and Harper get it going. But there are going to be times where their inexperience becomes a glaring issue, and they need De'Aaron to step up and pick up the slack. And we know he can do it; he earned an All-Star nod by excelling at that during the regular season.

Luckily, Game 2 served as a return to normalcy for him. That scoring punch was back in full effect, blending his crafty interior play with a good-looking three-point attack.

The Spurs can't come back in this series without this version of Fox

The whole world knows it: the Spurs are in a tough situation right now. Going into Madison Square Garden down 0-2 in the NBA Finals is not ideal. To put it more bluntly, I wouldn't wish their predicament on my worst enemy.

But we've seen this team do some extraordinary stuff this postseason, so counting them out would be foolish. I do want to be clear about one thing, though: a comeback cannot happen without the version of De'Aaron Fox that we got in Game 2.

Fox has to play his best stretch of basketball of this postseason if San Antonio wants to shock the world. The Knicks have shown that they can put Wemby through scoring droughts, so the All-Star guard needs to be as reliable as possible with his shot creation.

Friday night proved that De'Aaron is more than capable of delivering on this Finals stage. He has to do it every night if the Spurs want to silence their doubters again.

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