Mitch Johnson must channel his inner Gregg Popovich to lead a Spurs comeback

After being dealt disappointing Game 1 and Game 2 losses by the New York Knicks, the San Antonio Spurs should be going back to the drawing board. The Spurs simply need to play better after shooting just 36% from the field in Game 1 and 47% in Game 2. Especially Victor Wembanyama and De'Aaron Fox.

Rookie Dylan Harper has outplayed Fox throughout the NBA playoffs, but since his ankle injury, the gap between the two has been night and day. Simply put, Harper is better than Fox.

Coach Mitch Johnson starting Harper over Fox would give San Antonio their best chance of winning. It may also potentially help Fox get going. He played much better in Game 2 but still was far from being regular-season Fox.

Mitch Johnson has one card left to play to destroy the Knicks

Unfortunately, Fox appeared to have tweaked his ankle in the closing minutes of Game 2. He probably won't be anywhere near the 18-point player he was in the regular season during the remainder of the NBA Finals.

That's a problem for the Spurs and reason enough for Johnson to make a change. Starting Harper and having him relentlessly attack the Knicks is San Antonio's best option.

Despite the turnover concerns a backcourt of Harper and Stephon Castle has, they have been the best net rating of any of the Spurs' point guard pairings. Entering the NBA Finals, Harper and Castle had an eye-popping plus 13.9 net rating.

Mitch Johnson must take a page out of Gregg Popovich's playbook

That's hard to ignore. In fact, with this team down 0-2, they can't afford to ignore it. Johnson starting Harper would be reminiscent of Spurs Hall of Fame coach Gregg Popovich starting Manu Ginobili when things got tough.

He must do the same with Harper. Thus far, he's averaging 15.5 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists in 30 minutes over the first two games of the series. He's also shooting 54.5% from the field.

Playing him around 36 minutes per game over the remainder of the series, he could easily average 20 points against the Knicks. With San Antonio struggling to put points on the board against New York, they need an offensive jolt, and starting Harper is the key.

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