NEW YORK — A record-breaking comeback victory, capped by what could go down as a legendary play.
The long road back to the top of the NBA is almost complete for the New York Knicks, and the step they took Wednesday night was unforgettable.
The Knicks came from 29 points down and moved to the brink of their first championship since 1973 by beating the San Antonio Spurs 107-106 in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on OG Anunoby’s tip-in with 1.2 seconds remaining at Madison Square Garden.
“That has to be the most iconic shot in the history of New York basketball,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said.
It’s certainly high on the list — as high as Anunoby leaped when Jalen Brunson’s long 3-point shot bounced off the front of the rim, with his right hand stretching high to softly flick it in.
“Right hand from God,” New York center Karl-Anthony Towns said.
The Knicks, who have just two titles in their 80-year history — won in 1970 and 1973 — and hadn’t even been to the NBA Finals since 1999, have a 3-1 lead and three chances to win the best-of-seven series, starting with Game 5 on Saturday night in San Antonio.
That looked impossible when the Spurs rolled to a 27-point halftime lead, but Brunson helped bring the Knicks back with 36 points and Anunoby finished with 33.
No team had come from more than 24 points down in the NBA Finals — the Boston Celtics rallied from that deficit to beat the Los Angeles Lakers 97-91 in Game 4 in 2008 — since the NBA began keeping detailed play-by-play accounts for all four quarters in 1997. The Spurs led 81-52 in the third quarter.
“We’re a resilient group. We’ve been through a lot,” Anunoby said. “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.”
The only bigger comeback on record in any playoff game was 31 points by the Los Angeles Clippers against the Golden State Warriors in Game 2 of a first-round series in 2019.
“You look at it when you’re down 29 of, ‘OK, let’s get it to 20.’ There’s three minutes left in the third quarter, we’re down 18, you’re thinking, ‘Let’s get it to 10,” forward Josh Hart said. “In the fourth quarter, you’re like, this is winning time. Anything can happen.”
And it did.
The Knicks had their 13-game winning streak snapped in Game 3 on Monday night and seemed headed for a second straight defeat throughout the first half, when San Antonio opened the biggest halftime lead by a visiting team in the title series.
Road teams had won the first three games, only the second time that had happened in the NBA Finals, and San Antonio was well on its way to making it 4-for-4 — but the young Spurs, who made 11 of their first 16 3-pointers, went cold in the second half, going 3-for-17 behind the arc as the Knicks outscored them 58-30. San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama had 24 points and 13 rebounds but shot just 9-for-25 from the field.
“We got on our heels; we missed some shots,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “It’s disappointing, to say the least.”
Delirious fans inside Madison Square Garden sang along to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'” a few minutes after watching something that seemed almost impossible.
U.S. President Donald Trump wasn’t at this game — pop star Taylor Swift was — but the same restrictions remained around Madison Square Garden as when he attended Game 3. That angered the Knicks, who decided not to go forward with plans to hold an outdoor watch party outside the arena.
Inside the building, there wasn’t much for the hosts to be happy about either in the first half. The Spurs broke to a 12-2 lead, giving them a double-digit advantage in the first quarter of all four games. They kept pouring it on and led 41-22 after one, then extended it to 57-32 when Julian Champagnie’s 3-pointer made them 11-for-16 behind the arc.
However, the Knicks gave themselves a chance by limiting the Spurs to 14 points on 4-for-20 shooting in the third quarter, using a 13-0 run to get back in it and cutting it to 90-75 heading to the fourth quarter.
These Knicks, who erased a 22-point deficit in the fourth quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference title series, just don’t quit. Even when the comeback seemed for naught when Stephon Castle was fouled after New York had taken the lead and made two free throws to put San Antonio back ahead with 30 seconds left, the Knicks had one more rally in them.
Dylan Harper scored 21 points and De’Aaron Fox and Devin Vassell each had 18 for the Spurs, who will try to regroup and send the series back to New York for Game 6 on Tuesday. Only one team — Cleveland in 2016 — has recovered from a 3-1 deficit in the title series.
“I think it began before” the fourth quarter, Wembanyama said of the Spurs’ collapse. “I can’t really explain it right now. I don’t know. … We clearly weren’t the most hungry in the second half.”
Fans booed Wembanyama when he came on to the floor to warm up about an hour before the game, and during the game, the Knicks tried to get rough with him, with Mitchell Robinson called for a flagrant foul for hitting him above the shoulders and Jose Alvarado reviewed for one after going below the belt.
Wembanyama — who was also called for a flagrant — stood up OK against the Knicks but will regret the two free throws he missed with 1:47 left and San Antonio leading 104-103.
He doesn’t have much time to dwell on it, though. Even with a two-day break before Game 5, the Spurs and their young star will need to regroup as soon as possible.
“It’s going to go one of two ways,” Wembanyama said. “One of two ways, a bad one and a good one. The bad one would be giving up. The good one would be getting stronger through this, getting more together. I know this is what we’re going to do.”