Manhattan and much of New York City’s four other boroughs were gripped on Wednesday night by a historic sporting event, that had nothing to do with Fifa or its imminent World Cup finals.

The New York Knicks completed the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history, reeling in a 29-point San Antonio Spurs lead, to score the winning points with one second remaining. The Knicks attract an A-list celebrity fanbase courtside, while outside Madison Square Garden, there was a febrile atmosphere at times and scuffles with police as thousands celebrated the win.

Fifa commercials are taking over Times Square and Penn Station, which sits under the Garden, but with the World Cup about to start tonight, only one sport – and one team – dominates conversation in New York.

There were similarities with the scenes in north London that followed Arsenal’s first Premier League title in 22 years last month, although the Knicks have waited a lot longer. The last of their two NBA championships was 53 years ago, when Richard Nixon was in the White House, and US troops still fought in Vietnam.

The Knicks might be Arsenal in terms of the scope of loyalty they inspire in the country’s biggest city – but in terms of championships won, and familiarity with noble failure, they bear a greater similarity to Tottenham Hotspur.

The 107-106 win means the Knicks now lead the best-of-seven series 3-1 and can seal the title if they win Game 5 in Texas on Saturday night, with the game tipping-off in the small hours of Sunday morning in Britain. As a sporting event, the US team’s first World Cup group game against Paraguay in Los Angeles, 2am UK time on Saturday, does not come close to capturing the public imagination.

Courtside, no team can deliver the celebrity quotient like the Knicks, many of whom were genuine fans before they were famous. On Wednesday night, Larry David, of Curb Your Enthusiasm, sat next to John McEnroe, the seven-time grand-slam tennis champion. The actor Timothée Chalamet, accompanied by girlfriend Kylie Jenner, roared into the television cameras after the dramatic ending. Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, Jerry Seinfeld and Jimmy Fallon were all in attendance.

Taylor Swift also arrived with an entourage wearing a “Stevie Knicks” T-shirt, although her Knicks-supporting credentials have been questioned. Donald Trump attended the first finals game at the Garden when he was booed and then accused of falling asleep. A native New Yorker, he is a long-term Knicks fan.

TAYLOR SWIFT HYPED AFTER KNICKS HISTORIC GAME 4 COMEBACK 🗣️🗣️🗣️ pic.twitter.com/z0ZiWpgkzf

— NBA (@NBA) June 11, 2026

The winning basket on Wednesday was tipped in by the British-born OG Anunoby, one of the Knicks’s shining lights, who was born in Harlesden, north-west London, close to where Raheem Sterling was brought up. Anunoby, 28, considers himself British. He moved to Missouri aged four with his late father Ogugua snr, an academic, and became a high school and college phenom.

OG ANUNOBY WITH THE PUTBACK.

KNICKS COMPLETE THE 29-PT COMEBACK FOR THE WIN.

LARGEST COMEBACK IN NBA FINALS HISTORY 🤯 pic.twitter.com/ZtWVWY6JsR

— NBA (@NBA) June 11, 2026

Anunoby is an Arsenal fan and also an investor in the basketball franchise London Lions. He often speaks with a British accent and is an enthusiastic supporter of British basketball. His brother Chigbo played in the NFL.

Anunoby is not the only British connection to the Knicks. Scotland’s great World Cup hope John McGinn has a strong family link to the franchise. The Aston Villa captain’s cousin Scott is vice-president of the company that operates Madison Square Garden, the home of the team based in the heart of Manhattan.

On the streets outside the Garden, Seventh and Eighth Avenue were closed by police and emotions ran high. Social media footage showed Knicks fans attacking a man wearing a Spurs match-vest and on other occasions clashing with police.

Generally, however, it was good-natured. Bars showing the game were packed with fans wearing the team’s blue and orange, and crowds outside gathered around pavement screens and watched through windows as an epic game reached its climax.

Even in the most famous city on Earth, and its capacity to cater for all tastes, there seemed to be just one preoccupation. Josh, 24, from Brooklyn, said that there were many who thought they might never live to see the day the Knicks finally win an NBA championship. “The city will go crazy if they do it. It will be the kind of day you tell your kids about. Hopefully not as long a wait for the next one.”

The game was watched by England players at their hotel in West Palm Beach, said Marc Guéhi – and many of them are NBA fans. Thomas Tuchel himself was a decent schoolboy basketball player and at 6ft 3in is just taller than the star of the Knicks, point guard Jalen Brunson. The US World Cup team were filmed reacting wildly at the game’s climax, in a clip widely shared on social media.

SOMEONE CHECK ON KNICKS FAN TYLER ADAMS https://t.co/ISvTYiYAiepic.twitter.com/2yy3qpec1S

— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) June 11, 2026

Any such heroics against Paraguay are unlikely to be watched as closely by the Knicks players. The Spurs may yet take this series past Game 5, with stars such as Stephon Castle and 7ft 4in French sensation Victor Wembanyama having been stung by this defeat. As for the attention of New York, the World Cup will have to wait until this epic is decided.

NEW YORK — San Antonio Spurs coach Mitch Johnson was trying to explain just how his team let this one slip away – how they blew the biggest lead in NBA Finals history – but he was being drowned out.

Speaking during his postgame press conference here at Madison Square Garden, one that was being conducted in a temporary press area whose walls were cloth room dividers, the celebrations from New York Knicks fans were so loud that his mic picked them up.

So how, exactly, did the Knicks complete this comeback? In short: they played a near-perfect second half and the Spurs went away from the things that had brought them early success. The reality, however, is far more nuanced than that.

There’s been no shortage of both drama and celebrities when it comes to the NBA Finals in New York City. Wednesday night was no different, with the seats packed with stars in Madison Square Garden — and we got the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history, as the Knicks came back from 29 points down to win, taking a 3-1 lead in the series.

It wasn’t just an amazing game, but a heck of an experience when it comes to seeing how the celebs reacted when they realized the Knicks made history in front of them.

Taylor Swift

I also love that this was shot in black and white by Ben Stiller from courtside in the most dramatic, artistic way possible. To be honest, I’d love a subplot in the next season of Severance where Mark S is told the Knicks win the finals and he assumes it has to be a deepfake by Lumon.

Taylor would go on to party in the tunnel as well.

Timothee Chalamet

I truly, honestly, love this for him. Chalamet comes by his Knicks’ fandom honestly, and his love of the team has been established for a long, long time. Well, a relatively long time when you’re 30-years-old. My man ended up being so hyped up that he grabbed a mic from Entertainment Tonight and cut his own promo in the tunnel after the game.

Fat Joe

This is easily my favorite one, because Fat Joe is taking credit for the Knicks win. He tracked down Stephen A. Smith after the game and claims that his dancing (and possibly the glare off his chains) caused Victor Wembanyama to miss two critical free throws at the end of the game. This might be the only time I’ve seen SAS struggle to know what to say.

Mike Brown gave at least a little credence to the idea that Fat Joe helped out.

I’m just happy that we get to talk about Fat Joe in 2026.

Larry David

Larry David almost collapsed when Josh Hart missed a breakaway layup that could have given the Knicks the lead in the final minute:

Spike Lee

LOOK AT HOW MANY SPIKE LEE IS.

Even if you hate the Knicks, you have to feel some joy for a long downtrodden hardcore fan like Spike.

Just listen to the joy from this man:

The Knicks have never been more alive. What a night in MSG.

It was one heckuva Wednesday for Chris Gotterup.

The four-time PGA Tour winner made a hole-in-one and then got to watch his New York Knicks pull off the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history. It doesn't get much better than that.

RELATED: LeBron has his first golf highlight

But before the tip of Game 4, Gotterup shared his latest ace and drew the conclusion that the club he used was a sign of things to come. "5-iron. Ace. Knicks in 5 #thesigns," he captioned with his celebratory pick. And so far, he's right:

And, yeah, that's me liking the heck out of that post because GO NEW YORK, GO NEW YORK, GO! The Knicks' improbable win Wednesday night means they have a chance to close out the series in Saturday's Game 5 as the team tries to win its first NBA title since 1973, which 26 years before Gotterup was born.

We don't know if it will actually happen (Please, golf gods or any gods make it happen), but we do know one thing for sure. Chris Gotterup will be watching.

RELATED: Dustin Johnson has most Dustin Johnson reaction ever after making ace

It's time for The LeBron James Decision, part (who's really keeping count anyway).

James, 41, will be an unrestricted free agent in a few weeks when the NBA's free agency period begins June 30.

The league's all-time leader in seasons played will be able to verbally agree to sign with a team and negotiate deals, but will not be able to put pen to paper and officially sign a new contract until July 6.

James hasn't publicly indicated he knows what he wants to do. He said during an episode of his "Mind The Game" podcast with Steve Nash that his decision could come late this summer.

"I'm still in the moment of like, just taking my time," James said. "I haven't even really thought about it too much. Obviously, I understand that I'm a free agent and I can control my own destiny, (if it's) being here with this (Lakers) franchise for the foreseeable future, or if it's going somewhere else. ... I think at some point you know, up until late June, as July rolls around, free agency starts to get going and July's rolling and maybe into August we start to kind of like, get a feel of what my future may look like."

There has been wide speculation that potential landing spots for James include the Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers. However, The Stein Line, by NBA insiders Marc Stein and Jake Fischer, reported in a Tuesday article that many believe James will remain with the Lakers, though the Warriors are a dark horse.

"Staying with the Lakers is widely believed to be (James') preferred choice because he is so entrenched in Los Angeles now after eight seasons with the purple and gold," Stein and Fischer wrote. "Yet league sources maintain that Golden State remains legitimately interested in adding LeBron to their Stephen Curry/Jimmy Butler/Draymond Green core coached by Steve Kerr … with the pitch presumed to include the idea that LeBron could commute from Los Angeles to some TBD degree without having to move his family."

Taylor Swift, Este Haim and Alana Haim had a dance party after the Knicks pulled off the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history over the Spurs in Game 4 on Wednesday night.

The trio, who brought the energy on Celebrity Row at Madison Square Garden, danced to the song “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper, as seen in a video by the singing sisters on social media Wednesday night.

“Girls just wanna have PUN,” the caption read, referring to their blue and orange shirts with Knicks puns.

Swift’s shirt said “Stevie Knicks,” which was a nod to her the legendary singer, who she’s been friends with for some time.

Alana donned a shirt with “Knickelback,” a twist on Canadian rock back, Nickelback.

Este’s shirt, “Knickole Kidman,” was a reference to actress Nicole Kidman.

They were courtside with actress “Law & Order: SVU” star Mariska Hargitay — a close friend of Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson — who also donned a “Stevie Knicks” shirt.

Swift, who owns multiple properties in New York City, and Co. were dancing and cheering throughout the game.

They were seen jumping up and down in the back hallways of MSG with the Knicks’ Seventh Ave Squad — the team’s entertainment team — after the Knicks rallied from a 29-point hole in the third quarter to beat the Spurs 107-106.

A video also emerged of an overzealous fan attempting to take either a selfie or shoot a video being shooed away by security.

Swift, who will tie the knot with fiancé, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce at MSG on July 3, was waving a towel and cheering during the celebrations.

The Knicks set the record for the biggest NBA Finals comeback, according to ESPN.

They sealed the win with a heroic play from forward OG Anunoby, who tipped in a rebound of a long 3-pointer by Brunson with 1.2 seconds remaining to give the Knicks the lead.

“It was cool, everyone’s pretty excited, I’m excited too,” Anunoby said after the game, which had reporters laughing. “Were enjoying it right now but we’re just look toward the next game.”

Game 5 is Saturday night in San Antonio, with the Knicks a win away from their first NBA championship in 53 years.

New York Knicks fans have been waiting 53 years for a championship, and now they are only one win away after watching their team pull off the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history in Game 4. The Knicks somehow erased a 29-point second half deficit to win the game just before the buzzer on OG Anunoby’s tip-in to take a commanding 3-1 series lead ahead of Game 5 in San Antonio on Saturday.

It’s understandable that New Yorkers are excited, but the behavior from certain segments of the fanbase in this series has been disappointing and totally inappropriate. Knicks fans beat up Spurs fans in the streets after their Game 3 loss, and following the Game 4 win, Knicks fans were throwing objects at Victor Wembanyama as he went back to the team hotel.

Knicks fans were waiting to jeer the Spurs as they arrived at their hotel after Game 4, which is weird behavior by itself. Wembanyama appeared to be hit by an egg as he walked off the bus.

Here’s another angle of Knicks fans throwing debris at Wemby.

Wembanyama has turned into public enemy No.1 for Knicks fans. He got away with decking Jalen Brunson in Game 3, and then in Game 4, he was taunting Mitchell Robinson in the first half before the Spurs’ massive collapse.

Booing the opponent’s star player is fair game, but throwing things at him on his way to bed is just completely out of line. Knicks fans should be embarrassed. It’s a terrible look for the city and the fanbase. Wembanyama deserves a lot more respect than that, not just as a player but as a human.

Knicks fans are disgracing themselves in this series as their team puts itself on the brink of achieving an impossible dream. I’m not going to tell Knicks fans to act like they’ve been there before, because almost 70 percent of New York City residents weren’t born when the team won its last title in 1973. Still, let’s try to have a little respect for the opponent. This behavior is gross, and it needs to stop immediately.

De’Aaron Fox’s 28-year-old legs ain’t what they used to be.

The guard’s confidence burned the Spurs and potentially sealed their Finals fate when his — as labeled by Charles Barkley — “dumbass” decision to attempt a layup in the final 11 seconds resulted in a block and paved the way for OG Anunoby’s game-winning and series-changing tip-in in the Knicks’ win.

“I just thought I’d be able to outrun him,” Fox said.

Fox’s decision from the 107-106 loss now has a spot alongside Ray Allen’s 2013 3-pointer in the pantheon of brutal Spurs Finals moments and it may be hard for fans to forgive him for this one.

The veteran guard’s questionable decision perhaps will be what swings this series.

With the Spurs leading 106-105 and roughly 18 seconds remaining, Jalen Brunson missed a shot and the fight for the rebound led to the ball being tipped past half court.

Fox had a clean path to the ball and gained possession near the paint with approximately 13 seconds remaining with Anunoby on his tail and then made a decision that could be rued in San Antonio for decades.

Rather than pull up and make the Knicks foul him, which would give the Spurs the chance to grab a two-point lead and potentially three, he opted to go for the contested layup.

Anunoby, one of the sport’s premier defenders, blocked Fox, which led to the Knicks gaining possession and he became a Knicks legend with his tip-in with 1.2 seconds remaining resulting in a 3-1 series lead.

“Haven’t scored,” Fox said of his decision. “Try to get a layup get up three, force them to need a 3. OG made a good block.”

Fox has earned universal criticism for his decision, especially since the easy option to force the Knicks into a foul seemed like the most logical decision.

Charles Barkley shredded Fox on ESPN during his tirade against a Spurs team he labeled as “the dumbest basketball team in the history of civilization.”

He described Fox’s decision as “bonehead.”

“That was a dumbass play,” Barkley said. “He did not have to shoot that ball.”

To make matters worse for Fox, his sloppy play in the second half helped fuel the Knicks’ comeback.

He turned the ball over four times in the second half, including one in the fourth quarter — although one could argue his decision in the final minute may as well have been a turnover.

The veteran is the elder statesman in a young Spurs lineup that primarily lacked playoff experience before this run to the Finals, yet all that experience failed him when he needed it most.

“We’ve got to try to put it behind us,” Fox said, per The Athletic. “Get back to the things that we’ve done well in these games. … We have to figure out a way to hold the lead. We’ve been able to build double-digit leads in all four of these games, and we’ve got to figure out a way to sustain that.

“It obviously looks like a steep hill, but this is something that’s happened before. … We feel like we have a team that is able to come back from this, but we have to take this one game at a time.”

OG Anunoby wasn’t alone.

Video of the final play of the Knicks’ thrilling Game 4 win over the Spurs show Karl-Anthony Towns deflected the inbounds pass from Dylan Harper, potentially disrupting what would have been a game-winning basket.

A fan’s breakdown of the play on X showed that Stephon Castle had back cut to the basket and was wide open for an alley-oop. It would have taken a pinpoint pass from Harper to execute the play, but any chance of that was destroyed once Towns disrupted it.

Castle fumbled the catch before gathering the ball, but that allowed the defenders to catch up and the star guard had his back to the basket and he ultimately did not get up a shot up with just 1.2 seconds left.

It did not appear that Towns’ play was initially caught by the ESPN broadcast in the chaotic celebration that followed at Madison Square Garden after the Knicks had rallied from 29 points down against the Spurs to take a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals.

“For us, when we got in there at halftime, we understood we were disappointed with the performance we had in the first half. That’s, of course, the result of walking in,” Towns’ said of the Knicks being down 76-49 at the break and looking for sure headed to a second straight loss at MSG.

“But I’ve always talked about the unity and the connectivity of this team. Went in there, people spoke up. Jose (Alvarado), just saying, regardless how the result of the game comes out, we can’t at least not work on our standards and be who we are.”

Warning: Graphic Language

Towns’ moment does not happen without Anunoby’s heroics on the previous play.

Anunoby inbounded the ball to Jalen Brunson, who launched a deep 3-pointer that came up short. However, Anunoby was streaking in and tipped the ball in with just over a second left.

“That’s why every time we’re in the game with OG, third quarter, second quarter, he may not be feeling like he’s playing his best,” Towns said. “Every time I talk to him, I say, I already know what OG Anunoby is going to do in the fourth quarter, and he did exactly what I thought he would do. He gave us a chance to win, and that’s all you could ask for from the best two-way player in the NBA.”

Towns finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds after he received his second foul just a minute into the game on a controversial overrule that forced him to the bench.

Throughout this season, Philadelphia 76ers’ young forward Justin Edwards struggled to maintain a meaningful spot in the team’s rotation.

Edwards, in his sophomore season, featured in 64 contests for the Sixers, starting in 12, for 15.3 minutes per night — with those minutes varying wildly from night to night. Some games, Nick Nurse went to him early and often, racking up some serious minutes off the bench for Edwards. When the team struggled with injuries, he even started some contests. But other times, Edwards seemingly disappeared, playing little or no time at all. He ended up averaging 6.0 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists throughout 2025-26.

These numbers represent some slight statistical regressions compared to his rookie year, but context surrounding those numbers is important, as Edwards’ opportunities this season were much different than those of last season.

Let’s look back. Edwards was originally brought to Philly in the summer preceding the 2024-25 season as an undrafted free agent. A few months later, the Philadelphia-native was thrust into basically a regular starting role for a Sixers squad absolutely desperate for bodies to simply play out the rest of the campaign. After playing in just two of the first 30 games of that season (and for nine minutes total), Edwards then played in 42 of the last 52, starting in 26 of those, for 27.2 minutes per night. His rookie season ended with him averaging 10.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.0 steals per game.

In February of that year, Edwards was converted from his original two-way contract to a standard NBA deal. From undrafted to some guaranteed millions of dollars. Talk about a jump-start.

This season, things were different. Though the Sixers still dealt with a number of availability issues, the desperation level was never quite as high as 2024-25. This meant a much smaller role for Edwards as a sophomore, with the vast majority of his time coming off the bench and totaling 178 less minutes played than his rookie campaign throughout the course of the season.

Nevertheless, Edwards found ways to really shine in spots. His best game of the season came on March 19, when Edwards posted a career-high 32 points on 11-for-18 field goal and 7-for-11 long-range shooting in 33 minutes. The Sixers defeated the Sacramento Kings 139-118.

That game was part of a stretch in mid-March within which Edwards started seven straight contests for the Sixers, who were without four of their usual starters at the time (Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Paul George and Kelly Oubre Jr.). In those seven contests, Edwards fared relatively well overall, averaging 15.9 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.0 steals in 27.6 minutes per game. He shot 40.5% from long range on 5.3 attempts during that time.

That impact, and where it was made, reflects something Edwards needs to hone in on to become a fully viable rotation player: three-point shooting. It has been one of the most promising things about his game, with Edwards hitting 37.2% from long range in his sophomore season, a slight improvement over the 36.3% he posted his rookie year. He always seems confident about it, with zero hesitation when the opportunity presents itself for him to pull up from long range. It wasn’t always perfect by any means, but it’s noteworthy that Edwards was much better from beyond the arc with more volume shooting. In the 12 games this season he attempted at least five three-pointers, he shot 50.6% from behind the arc (40-for-79). In the 52 games he shot 4 or less attempts, he sank just 26.7% (27-for-101).

He already has a decent feel or awareness in the game and is a solid defender, but he’s not the best rebounder for his size nor does he have much of an aggressive dribble-drive game. Sincerely honing in on becoming a consistent, accurate volume three-point shooter is what could make it possible to somewhat overlook some of those weaknesses enough to get him in the regular rotation. The Sixers desperately need perimeter threats that opposing defenses can’t just leave wide open inconsequentially, leaving a role prime for the taking for Edwards if he can take that step forward.

And at just 22 years old, there’s still time to develop. If there is one coach that will let Edwards develop with meaningful NBA minutes, it’s Nick Nurse, who clearly has confidence in the young forward as evidenced by his willingness to keep calling upon him off the bench. But, as he enters his third NBA season, one can imagine the expectations for Edwards will be higher than ever, and patience for rough performances could be much lower.

And it’s not like he won’t have motivation. Edwards will be playing to earn the next step of his NBA career, as he is entering season two of his three-year deal with the Sixers, but with the 2027-28 season being a team option. So, in 2026-27, Edwards needs to play at a level that either convinces Philadelphia to pick up that option, or convinces another team to take a chance on him should the Sixers decline.

A lot on the line for the young forward in the coming season.