The New York Knicks stared into the abyss and somehow found a way out. Facing a 29-point deficit in front of a shell-shocked home crowd. the side completed the largest comeback in NBA finals history on Wednesday night.
OG Anunoby’s tip-in off a Jalen Brunson missed three-pointer with 1.2 seconds left made the difference in the 107-106 win against San Antonio Spurs in Game 4.
“Right hand from God,” the Knicks center, Karl-Anthony Towns, said of Anunoby’s winning basket.
The stunning result gave New York a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. sent thousands of fans into the midtown Manhattan streets chanting and celebrating after the final buzzer. The Knicks can secure their first title since 1973 when the series returns to San Antonio for Game 5 on Saturday night.
For much of the evening, that possibility seemed absurd. The Spurs seized control almost immediately. Towns was whistled for a defensive foul 18 seconds into the game, then a second 65 seconds later when San Antonio successfully challenged a foul call on Victor Wembanyama. had it overturned into an offensive foul on the Knicks center. With Towns headed to the bench before the game was three minutes old, the Spurs raced to a 12-2 lead.
San Antonio buried 11 of their first 16 attempts from beyond the arc. led 41-22 after the opening quarter, extending the margin to 71-42 on a Dylan Harper running lay-up. By the intermission. San Antonio held a 76-49 lead, the largest half-time advantage held by a visiting team in an NBA finals game.
The turnaround began taking shape in the third quarter. when New York held San Antonio to 14 points on 4-for-20 shooting. Wembanyama managed three points in the period. the Spurs failed to score a single basket in the paint, allowing the Knicks to chip down the 29-point deficit with 9min 40sec left in the third to 15 entering the final period.
“We’re a resilient group,” Anunoby said. “We’ve been through a lot. We’ve come back plenty of times when we’re behind. Just staying with it, weathering the storm, not being too down or angry or frustrated.”
In the fourth, it changed in a blur. The Knicks ripped off a 28-9 run in a seven-minute stretch, all light. flash, turning every defensive stop into a fast-break opportunity and every basket into a fresh wave of belief.
The deficit shrank possession by possession until Brunson delivered the breakthrough. knifing through traffic for a lay-up with 1min 22sec remaining to give the Knicks their first lead, 105-104.
“You look at it when you’re down 29, ‘OK let’s get it to 20,’” Josh Hart said. “There’s three minutes left in the third quarter. we’re down 18, you’re thinking, ‘Let’s get it to 10.’ In the fourth quarter, you’re like, ‘This is winning time. Anything can happen.’”
After the Spurs wrested back the lead on a pair of Stephon Castle free throws. Brunson missed a contested three in the closing seconds. But Anunoby slipped through the defense. tipped in the winning basket to set off scenes of delirium in the Garden.
The Knicks led for 53.8sec. The final 1.2sec made all the difference.
Anunoby finished with 33 points. buried seven of his nine attempts from beyond the arc, both playoff career highs, producing one of the defining performances in Knicks postseason history. Brunson added 36 points. seven assists, while Jose Alvarado supplied an unexpected lift off the bench with eight points during the fourth‑quarter rally.
No team had come back from more than 24 points down in an NBA finals game. The previous mark belonged to the Boston Celtics against the Los Angeles Lakers in 2008.
Wembanyama finished with 24 points, 13 rebounds. three blocks for San Antonio, who had appeared poised to seize control of the series after winning Game 3 and then opening that huge lead. Harper added 21 points while De’Aaron Fox. Devin Vassell scored 18 apiece for the Spurs, who were outscored 58-30 in the second half and shot 3-for-17 from three-point range after the break.
Taylor Swift was among the celebrities at courtside, wearing a blue. orange “Stevie Knicks” T-shirt with friends and collaborators Alana and Este Haim and taking her seat alongside Garden regulars Spike Lee, Ben Stiller and Tracy Morgan. Her presence added another flicker of star power to a series. has captivated the city as the Knicks close in on the third championship in their 80-year history.
Only one team – LeBron James’s Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016 – have overturned a 3-1 deficit to win the NBA finals. The Spurs must become the second if they are to deny the Knicks the chance to end one of the longest title droughts in North American sports.
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