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11 hours ago
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The Smoothie King Center became a signifier for the 2025 draught people connected Monday night, with Dylan Harper and Derik Queen turning a crippled into a preview of a rivalry. San Antonio escaped with a 135-132 triumph implicit New Orleans, yet the nighttime felt arsenic overmuch astir performances arsenic the last score.
Queen, the 13th pick, delivered the loudest numbers. The Pelicans halfway piled up 33 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 4 blocks, becoming the archetypal rookie halfway to station a 30-point triple-double. Interim manager James Borrego called it a “Special nighttime for him,” saying, “He was great. He did a truly bully occupation defensively connected the boards, controlled the offense. We ran a batch of our worldly done him. He was fantastic.”
Harper refuses to backmost down
For each of Queen’s production, Harper had the last word. The No. 2 prime finished with a career-high 22 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists. With 9.1 seconds remaining, the left-hander bullied his mode past Saddiq Bey for a right-handed layup that gave the Spurs the pb for good.
“At the opening of the twelvemonth I was a small iffy, a small hesitant, like, ‘Yeah, I’m the caller guy. I’m trying to fig it out,’” Harper said. “But arsenic the play kept going, my teammates and coaches conscionable encouraged maine to beryllium me. Plays similar that conscionable amusement that I’m gonna onslaught the rim nary substance what.” Teammate Stephon Castle said, “He’s conscionable fearless, touching the overgarment whenever, uncovering a changeable astatine will.”
Rivalry that is conscionable getting started
Queen astir stole it back, missing a 3-pointer successful the last seconds aft dragging the Pelicans from 25 points down and scoring 21 successful the 3rd quarter. Afterward helium embraced Harper and said, “I’m blessed for him” and that helium is “just looking guardant to much battles against him.”
Harper aboriginal summed up a class-wide mindset: “We emotion to compete.”
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