Category: NBA

Victor Wembanyama was almost at a loss for words after the Spurs blew a 29-point third-quarter lead as the Knicks moved one win away from an NBA title. 

The Spurs big man and NBA Defensive Player of the Year had a hard time trying to explain what happened in Game 4. The Spurs scored just 30 points in the second half, and Wembanyama was held to just eight over the final two quarters in a 107-106 loss. 

Wembanyama, 22, also missed a pair of free throws late in the game with the Spurs clinging to a one-point lead with a little less than two minutes on the clock. 

“Can’t really explain it right now,” he said bluntly. “It’s just execution. Greediness, of some sort. We clearly weren’t the hungriest in the second half.”

Wemby and the Spurs were dominant early on, going into halftime with a 27-point lead. The big man scored 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting. 

Even late in the game, the Spurs kept the Knicks at bay, leading by 17 points with less than nine minutes to go. 

According to NBA researcher Jacob Kaye, no team had ever won a game trailing by 17 or more points in the final nine minutes of regulation of an NBA Finals game since 1970-71. 

"We clearly weren't the most hungry in the second half."

Wemby after the Spurs gave up the largest comeback in NBA Finals history. pic.twitter.com/WvStUDEbWW

— ESPN (@espn) June 11, 2026

That was, until the Knicks came along on Wednesday night. 

“It was painful, of course,” Wembanyama said about the emotions of walking off the court. “It feels like we worked too hard to give up our leads. It’s as simple as that. It just hurts.” 

The Spurs will have two days before they return to the court for Game 5 on Saturday night. 

The series shifts back to San Antonio with the Knicks on the verge of capturing their first NBA championship since 1973.

Just looking at his stat sheet, Jose Alvarado wouldn’t stand out as having a huge impact on the Knicks in their 107-106 win over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday night.

But the game is played on the court, not on a piece of paper, and Alvarado’s contributions to his team on Wednesday were enough to make head coach Mike Brown give him a round of applause during his postgame news conference.

“Jose was unbelievable tonight. He changed the game,” Brown said. “His speed, his ability to touch the paint… if you don’t close out to Jose, as hard as he works on his shot, he’s gonna make you pay. If you close out to him, he’s quick enough to go by you and he made some great basketball plays offensively tonight. And then he was great defensively.”

Alvarado ended his night with eight points on 3-for-4 from the field (2-for-3 from deep) while adding three assists and two rebounds in 16 minutes off the bench. It was the most action the point guard has received during the playoffs and it came while New York was trailing and chipping away at its deficit.

Some of those minutes also came in the fourth quarter and were big minutes with the Knicks making their comeback attempt in a historic win. And even though Alvarado has been a solid player for New York since being traded during the regular season, most of his playing time has come either earlier in the game or with his team up big to give some of the stars some rest.

This time, Alvarado was right there alongside starters Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby in the final seconds of the game and spoke about playing in the fourth quarter of a tightly-contested NBA Finals game.

“Playing in the fourth quarter, that’s something, when you play this game, that’s when you want to play at,” he said. “Shout out to our bench… we all stepped up when our number was called and I’m glad we got the job done today.”

On a national stage, Alvarado was able to showcase what his teammates and the Knicks have already known for a while: that he’s a player who plays with energy, passion and love for the game.

As a Knicks fan growing up in Brooklyn, Alvarado’s coming out party happened in a game that New York won on an epic Anunoby tip-in, which was even more special for the 28-year-old who went undrafted out of college. He even said he almost started to cry after he saw the game-winner go in because it meant so much to him.

“Just to be part of the journey is amazing,” Alvarado said. “I appreciate coach [Brown] and everybody giving me my flowers, but this is what I worked hard for, to be in moments like this and it’s showing. I’m glad we got a win today and I’ll definitely remember this for the rest of my life.”

Alvarado getting the golden opportunity and running with it doesn’t come as a surprise to his teammates, who clearly love and respect him since he joined the team, not only because of his talent, but because of his hustle and the emotion he plays with every day.

In a sense, Alvarado embodies the city of New York as perfectly as anybody else on the team.

“He’s a special player,” Towns said. “His tenacity, his defensive ability and his offensive ability that I got to see first-hand… He has so much to his basketball game that people don’t give credit to and I’m glad at this stage and like this he was able to show the world what he can do when he’s given a chance. 

“Jose Alvarado literally told everybody in the world tonight he’s a big time player.”

After Game 3, the Knicks stressed that their defensive shortcomings, in particular missing assignments and not being as connected, had to be corrected. 

It took them a half, but they found their defensive mojo in time. 

After getting tattooed for 76 first-half points, the Knicks shut down the Spurs over the final 24 minutes, keying the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history, a hard-to-believe 107-106 victory. Over the last 6:24, they held the Spurs to seven points, moving to within one win of their first championship in 53 years. 

“Really, we didn’t change much. We basically kept the same game plan,” coach Mike Brown said. “But defensively, we just did it [better] for longer stretches, and we were really in tune to what we were supposed to be doing. Our level of physicality increased without sending them to the free-throw line as well, which is huge.” 

San Antonio put on a shooting display in the first half, making 14 3-pointers in 26 attempts. Some of it was impressive shot-making, but a lot of it was the Knicks’ inability to defend the Spurs. There were so many open looks from deep, partly due to the Knicks overcommitting to Victor Wembanyama. But their inability to stop the ball was particularly evident. The Spurs had 17 assists in the first half and plenty of balance, four players scoring at least 13 points. 

“We needed to show them that first half was a fluke,” Jose Alvarado said. 

They certainly did. The second half was a vastly different story. The Spurs were limited to 30 points, committed nine turnovers and shot 3-for-17 from 3-point range. 

“Our contests were better, just 1 percent better,” OG Anunoby said. “Getting out faster and then finishing possessions with rebounds.” 

The Knicks did it with a small lineup, Alvarado in the backcourt with Jalen Brunson for a good chunk of the fourth quarter. Wembanyana missed 11 of 14 shots, and was held to eight points. San Antonio only had four points in the paint after halftime. 

“That’s unreal, and doing that especially in the fourth quarter,” Josh Hart said, referring to the defensive effort over the final two periods. “We were able to get stops without fouling, and that fueled our offense.” 

The Spurs didn’t guard the Knicks' inbounder as they were looking to avoid blowing a 27-point second-half lead and defend their one-point advantage with 5.7 seconds remaining in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday night.

In fact, San Antonio never laid eyes on OG Anunoby after he tossed the ball to Jalen Brunson and never put a body in front of him, allowing him to ghost down the lane and out-jump two defenders to tip in the game-deciding bucket with 1.2 seconds remaining to give the Knicks a 107-106 victory and a commanding 3-1 series lead.

“He got a pretty good look,” Anunoby said of Brunson’s long three-point jumper. “And I just went and crashed.”

And that crashing of the basket was something Knicks head coach Mike Brown emphasized to Anunoby before the game.

“I challenged a lot of our guys today, and OG was one of the guys I challenged,” Brown said after the improbable comeback win. 

“I told OG – as big, as strong, as athletic as he is – he's got to be a monster on the offensive glass tonight,” the head coach continued. “I don't know if there was a play bigger than any other play in the history of Knicks basketball. That was a huge offensive rebound, huge offensive rebound.

“He took on the challenge, and he went out and won the game for us, doing exactly what I called him out for during shootaround today.”

Why the emphasis on offensive rebounding? Perhaps because Anunoby, who averaged 1.3 offensive boards per game in the regular season and 1.2 per game in the previous rounds of the playoffs, had zero in the first three games of the NBA Finals.

With an outstretched arm and a free run down the lane, Anunoby got his first offensive rebound of the series 47 minutes and 58 seconds into Game 4.

“Right hand of God,” Karl-Anthony Towns said.

"This whole playoff run he’s been amazing,” Josh Hart said, “and he’s a winning player, and he went and made a winning play.”

When San Antonio head coach Mitch Johnson was asked if he saw the tip-in as a great play by Anunoby or a defensive breakdown, he answered in one word: "Both."

The basket – making him 7-for-9 in the second half – gave him 33 points for the night on 10-for-15 shooting (7-for-9 from three) with four rebounds, one assist, one steal, and one block, which came on the previous possession as he stufffed Spurs guard De'Aaron Fox right at the basket.

"He gave us a chance to win, and that's all you can ask for from the best two-way player in the NBA,” Towns said.

"OG being OG, just made a play," Brunson said.

With New York now one win away from ending a 53-year title drought, Anunoby’s tip is certainly going to be remembered forever.

“How he had to control it and tip it in, that has to be the most iconic shot in the history of New York basketball,” Brown said. “It was just unbelievable.” 

Of course, the unflappable Anunoby was nonchalant about it.

“It feels cool, everyone is pretty excited, I’m excited, too,” he said before allowing himself a wide smile and nervous laugh. “We’re all excited, we’re enjoying it right now, but we’re just focused on the next game.”

Jose Alvarado was surrounded by microphones in the bowels of Madison Square Garden but spoke like he was still on the streets of Brooklyn. 

He spoke with loyalty toward Jalen Brunson, the recipient of a Game 3 cheap shot from Victor Wembanyama. He spoke without fear of the Spurs’ 7-foot-4 superstar, who stands at least 17 inches taller and outweighs him by at least 75 pounds. 

“He got away with that one,” Alvarado said before Game 4 of the NBA Finals. “That’ll be the last one.” 

Alvarado then backed it up in the best imaginable way. The boy who grew up a Knicks fan in Brooklyn became a franchise legend Wednesday night in Manhattan, stepping in for the struggling Mikal Bridges down the stretch and producing all of his eight points, three assists and two rebounds in the final 10 minutes of the Knicks’ record-setting 29-point comeback that resulted in a miraculous 107-106 win over the Spurs. 

“I’m glad on this stage, on a night like this, he was able to show the world what he can do when he’s given a chance,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “And Jose Alvarado clearly told everyone in the world tonight he’s a big-time player.” 

The Knicks acquired Alvarado, 28, from New Orleans on Feb. 5, hoping his experience and contagious energy would be the final piece to a championship team. 

Now, they are one win from the team’s first title in 53 years. 

“He checked into the game and changed the game,” Landry Shamet said. “That’s when things really started to shift. He’s a spark. The energy he brings for us … he was ready to go and stepped in and made some huge plays for us.” 

Before the fourth quarter, Alvarado’s only impact on the game came when he deliberately took out Wembanyama’s legs in the second quarter. Still, Brown turned to the once-undrafted guard with 9:46 to play and the Knicks trailing 93-75. 

Alvarado offered hope with a 3-pointer on his first touch. He then assisted Towns on a 3-pointer, grabbed a rebound, then dished to OG Anunoby for a 3-pointer, bringing the Knicks within four with 4:34 to play. 

Alvarado followed with a pretty spin move and finish in the lane, a 3-pointer with 3:07 remaining and an assist on a Jalen Brunson 3-pointer to put the Knicks down one with 2:21 remaining before grabbing a De’Aaron Fox miss with 10 seconds left, setting up Anunoby’s all-time tip-in. 

“I was about to cry, not because — obviously there is one more, but … I’m at Madison Square Garden, end of the fourth quarter, playing with these guys, and we’re playing for something special,” Alvarado said. “It’s really something. I couldn’t put it in words.” 

Alvarado is New York, a nonstop motor in a 6-foot frame, unafraid of the spotlight, unfazed by pressure. 

When the postseason began, his role was unclear. Brown didn’t take him off the bench in the first-round opener against the Hawks, then played Alvarado single-digit minutes in nine of 13 games despite the Knicks’ numerous blowouts. 

But Alvarado earned more time when the NBA Finals began, putting up seven points and four rebounds in 11 minutes in Game 1. In Game 3, he provided an early spark off the bench by quickly recording four points and three rebounds. 

In Game 4, he became a legend of the team he always loved. 

“Ain’t no other guy like him,” Mitchell Robinson said. “He’s like a little pest out there, doing his thing.”

“Welcome to New York” indeed, Ms. Swift. 

Taylor Swift was as shocked and elated as everyone else inside Madison Square Garden following the Knicks’ historic 107-106 comeback win in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday night, and was even captured celebrating in the bowels of the arena before making her way out. 

The Post spotted Swift with her arms in the air and dancing as she made her way from her courtside seat on celebrity row. 

In another part of the video, Swift can be seen dancing and cheering with her frienda Este and Alana Haim and the Knicks 7th Ave Hype Squad, and at the end, she can be heard asking one of the Haim sisters, “What is life?” as she makes her way out of the arena. 

Taylor Swift celebrating Knicks NBA Finals Game 4 win! Presented by Tri State Cadillac. #sponsoredpic.twitter.com/5Cy22JxMfQ

— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) June 11, 2026

Swift was just one of the celebrity fans who made their way to MSG on Wednesday night.

They watched the Knicks erase a 29-point third-quarter deficit before OG Anunoby etched his name into the New York sports history books with a game-winning tip-in with 1.2 seconds left in the game. 

Swift and the Haim sisters sported blue T-shirts with orange writing that each featured different Knicks puns. 

The global icon’s shirt said, “Stevie Knicks.” 

Page Six first reported that Swift would be in attendance. A source told the outlet that the 14-time Grammy winner was a “huge fan of the Knicks and really wants to be there to support them.”

She had also appeared at another Knicks playoff game, during the Eastern Conference finals, when she attended Game 3 of the series against the Cavaliers with her fiancé and Cleveland native Travis Kelce.

Her appearance at MSG comes less than a week after Page Six broke the news that Swift and Kelce were set to wed at The World’s Most Famous Arena over the July 3 weekend. 

The wedding at Madison Square Garden adds another high-profile event to an already jam-packed summer in the New York area, which includes the World Cup just across the river at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

The Knicks were dead in the water practically the entire night in Wednesday's Game 4 of the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs. They went into halftime down by 27 points (and were down by as many as 29 points) and even after a solid third quarter, New York still found itself trailing by 20 points with around seven minutes to go.

But the team, aided by the MSG crowd all night, just kept chipping away and somehow made it a one-point game in the final seconds. With one more chance to take the lead, Jalen Brunson heaved a deep three over Victor Wembanyama that bounced off the rim and it looked like the Spurs would escape New York with two wins and a series tied.

However, with nobody boxing him out, OG Anunoby, who inbounded the pass to Brunson right before his shot, came crashing inside the paint, leapt up and was able to execute the perfect tip-in that gave the Knicks the lead with 1.2 seconds left and then the eventual win.

Naturally, the raucous crowd went insane after seeing the ball go through the net and the Knicks radio call was equally as exciting:

The Knicks radio broadcast reacting to the game-winner by OG Anunoby and the missed potential game-winner by Castle.

They also get wet a bit, as Knicks fans celebrate about them, and the announcer used the term "soak it up New York" on purpose, in retaliation. pic.twitter.com/Bs74EmeHOw

— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) June 11, 2026

The tip-in was the perfect end to Anunoby's magical night, in which he scored 33 points on 10-of-15 shooting and 7-of-9 from three. He and Brunson combined for 69 points and were the main catalysts for the comeback. 

Anunoby contributed on defense as well, blocking a shot by De'Aaron Fox on a fast-break attempt on the possession prior that would've given San Antonio a three-point lead with around 10 seconds left. The decision by Fox to shoot the ball and not hold on to it to kill the clock will be debated heavily, but Anunoby's ability to block the shot without fouling Fox was also stellar and another clutch play by the do-it-all forward.

Spurs radio play-by-play Dan Weiss and Spurs legend Sean Elliott were on the radio for San Antonio and were stunned by the Anunoby play.

"Sean, you said he's played the game of his life here tonight. And he may have just made the play of his life on that play," Weiss said.

"I thought he was the X-Factor coming into this series and he's untouched," Elliott responded. "You got two guys on the ball up top with Jalen Brunson. So you have numbers for the Knicks on the offensive glass and Anunoby goes down the paint for the tip." 

The Spurs radio announcers reacting to OG Anunoby game-winning tip in and the missed potential game-winner by Stephon Castle pic.twitter.com/3mgfIHJc6v

— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) June 11, 2026

Victor Wembanyama is lucky to not be suspended for Game 5.

He picked up a flagrant foul for elbowing Karl-Anthony Towns in the third quarter of the Knicks’ epic 107-106 Game 4 win over the Spurs on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. Now, the non-call in Game 3 has massive ramifications.

Wembanyama got away with shoving Jalen Brunson by his head area early in the Knicks’ Game 3 loss Monday night. No foul was called on the play. It was reviewed Tuesday, but the NBA opted against retroactively upgrading it to a flagrant.

Why that is so significant is because a player is suspended one game if they rack up four flagrant points across the postseason. A flagrant-1 foul means one point, a flagrant-2 foul means two points.

And Wembanyama was ejected for a flagrant-2 foul after elbowing Naz Reid in Game 4 of the second round against the Timberwolves. With Wednesday’s transgression, he is now at three flagrant points — meaning one more would result in a one-game suspension.

But if Monday’s shove had been upgraded to a flagrant, Wembanyama would be at four flagrant points and thus suspended for Game 5.

“Of course, I’m going to be more careful,” Wembanyama said Wednesday night. “But it’s not going to change much.”

Monty McCutchen, the NBA’s head of officiating, acknowledged on ESPN on Wednesday that the refs missed Wembanyama’s foul during the game but suggested it was unlikely to be upgraded to a flagrant.

“You always have to talk to your team about those situations,” coach Mike Brown said about the non-call in Game 3. “Not only do you talk to your team, which I did, but I talked to the officials, too. I said stuff like that can cause a fight. Obviously, they didn’t see it. There were other things. But those are things that I was talking about. At the end of the day, hopefully, like I said before, the officials will be consistent with what they see on both ends of the floor.”

There are two sides to a comeback the likes of which the basketball world saw on Wednesday night.

While the Knicks chipped away at a 29-point deficit in the second half, eventually taking the lead and holding on in improbable fashion, the Spurs allowed such a comeback.

But why and how did it happen?

Well, it was two-fold. The hot shooting that the Spurs enjoyed in the first half -- making 59.6 percent of their shots and 53.8 from three through the first two quarters -- led to 76 points. That was lost in the third and fourth quarters as San Antonio made just 20.5 percent of their shots and 17.6 percent from three. They scored just 30 points. 

They also turned the ball over nine times in the second half, when they only had two in the first. 

"To put as much good work into that first half as we did and get the lead that we had and not finish the job, it's disappointing to say the least," Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said after the game. "We felt the momentum [shift]. Too much to overcome? I didn’t feel that way until the clock hit zero.... We got away from playing the brand of basketball that got us the lead. And then you saw At times, the aggressiveness and conviction taht we played with early on dissipated and they made some shots. We needed a couple of more tough-minded plays to finish the job."

"It began before that," Victor Wembanyama said of when the collapse started. "I can’t really explain it right now. Execution, greediness, of some sort. We clearly weren’t the most hungry in the second half." 

Wembanyama enjoyed 16 points on 6-for-11 shooting in the first half. In the second half, he scored just eight points on 3 of 14 shooting and missed two crucial free throws in the waning minutes. 

When the star center was asked about the feeling in the locker room, he described it as "painful."

"Feels like we worked too hard to give up our lead. It’s as simple as that. It just hurt," he said.

"It definitely hurt, angry. It’s all fuel for the fire for us," Spurs guard Dylan Harper, who finished with 21 points said. "We’re going to go out the next game with a sense of fire. And just move on to Game 5. Nothing we can do about it now."

The series shifts back to San Antonio as the Spurs face elimination. They've been in this situation before. In the Western Conference Finals against the Thunder, the Spurs won Game 6 at home and a deciding Game 7 on the road to eliminate the defending champions. 

That experience paints Wembanyama's outlook on the series despite being down 1-3 in the series. And he believes his teammates will respond.

"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 will be giving up. The good one will be getting stronger through this, getting more together and that’s what we’re going to do."

He added: "Holding each other accountable, communicating, not pointing fingers. After that, we either got it or we don’t. We’ver proven that we can surpass these difficulties but even though we haven’t been there it before, I’m convinced we are built this way. We’re going to get better from this and It’s going to tighten us up."

Game 5 takes place Saturday night with the Knicks looking to capture their first title in over 50 years.  

Victor Wembanyama was asked about the Spurs' second half collapse in Game 4

"Can't really explain it right now. Execution, greediness of some sort. We clearly weren't the most hungry in the second half" pic.twitter.com/uMGFV6HR9m

— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) June 11, 2026

The New York Knicksmade history in Game 4 of the NBA Finals when they overcame a 29-point deficit to beat the San Antonio Spurs 107-106 on Wednesday, June 10 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Victor Wembanyama and the Western Conference champions put a smacking on the home team in the first half and built their 29-point lead. Then, they cooled down − starting the second half shooting 6-of-34 (17.6%) − the Defensive Player of the Year had a flagrant foul, and the Knicks kept chipping away. OG Anunoby hit the game-winning shot with 1.2 seconds left.

Anunoby finished with 33 points and Jalen Brunson added 36 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists.

This was the largest comeback in NBA Finals history and puts the Knicks up 3-1. It was the first home win of the series for either team. In a playoff series where the first three games were won by the road teams, the winner of Game 4 is 13-3 in the series.

Here are some other Knicks stats from the epic win:

• 29 points - largest comeback in NBA Finals history
• NBA teams were 4-750 in the playoffs when down by 20-plus points in the fourth quarter in the playoffs in the last 30 years (per NBA stats expert Keerthika Uthayakumar)
• The Knicks are 5-3 when down 20-plus points in the postseason the past two years. The rest of the NBA is 4-71 (per AP reporter Josh Dubow)

The Spurs had these shocking stats in the first half before giving up a 29-point lead:

• 14 - Most 3-pointers in a half in Finals history
  • Devin Vassell - 4
  • De'Aaron Fox- 3
  • Dylan Harper - 3
  • Stephon Castle - 1
  • Julian Champagnie - 1
  • Victor Wembanyama - 1
  • Carter Bryant - 1
• 76points - Third-highest scoring first half in Finals history (per ESPN)
• 76 points - Most points in the first half by a road team in Finals history
• 41-22 (19-point difference) - Largest first quarter lead by a road team in Finals history

Per the NBA, the previous record for most 3-point shots in a half was 13, which the Cleveland Cavaliers notched in 2017.

Wembanyama has had a historic playoffs, including swatting a record 12 blocks in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals and becoming the youngest player to notch 40-plus points and 20-plus rebounds in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.

There is so much hype around Wemby that even Wendy's considered changing their name and menu to honor the rising star.

But maybe it's time for TGI Fridays to change its name to OG Anunoby's?

Game 5 of the NBA Finals will be at 8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, June 13 in San Antonio.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Key stats from Knicks' comeback over Spurs in NBA Finals Game 4

Everyone at Madison Square Garden was trying to figure out what just happened in the Knicks-Spurs Game 4 of the NBA Finals — but Charles Barkley and the “Inside the NBA” crew were just angry.

“We saw the dumbest basketball team in the history of civilization,” Barkley said on the ESPN postgame show after the Spurs blew a 29-point lead and let the Knicks win 107-106.

“They had a [29]-point lead and took eight straight 3s. Like, that was some of the most mismanaged and stupid basketball. If you blow a [29]-point lead, the other team has to help you.”

The Spurs scored 30 points in the second half in an embarrassing offensive performance, hoisting brick after brick from beyond the arc after being unable to miss in the first half.

“The San Antonio Spurs helped the New York Knicks win this game by doing some of the most stupid ass stuff I’ve ever seen on a basketball court,” Barkley concluded.

Barkley was also irate with Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox for driving for a layup that was blocked by Knicks guard OG Anunoby.

“De’Andre Fox, whatever his name is. De’Aaron Fox,” Barkley said. “That was a dumbass play. There was no reason for him to shoot that ball.”

Fox retrieved a Brunson missed shot and a deflection that looked to be an easy layup to go up 109-106.

“We saw the dumbest basketball team in the history of civilization. … The San Antonio Spurs helped the New York Knicks win this game.”

Charles Barkley after the Spurs allowed the largest comeback in NBA Finals history pic.twitter.com/Y7t4UZsVhU

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) June 11, 2026

Fox could have — and probably should have — pulled back and waited to get fouled by the Knicks, but Anunoby came flying in with a LeBron James-style block to give the Knicks another chance at glory on the offensive side.

“They had a 29-point lead, and they shot eight 3s in a row and never came close to losing any time on the clock, and you’re like ‘This game ain’t over yet,'” Barkley said.

“The Knicks got a Christmas gift in June tonight.”

Shaquille O’Neal agreed with Barkley’s sentiment, saying that the Spurs “got comfortable” in the second half.

The Knicks play for an NBA Finals title in Game 5 on Saturday in San Antonio.