Category: Sports News

There isn’t a bigger OG Anunoby fan right now than Josh Hart.

Anunoby’s game-winning tip-in with 1.2 seconds left saved Hart from being the goat of the Knicks’ thrilling, 107-106 Game 4 victory of the NBA Finals.

“I’ve got a special shout-out for OG, man, because he saved me, at least for this game, a lifetime of regret,” Hart said after the Knicks set an NBA Finals record by rallying from a 29-point deficit.

With 1:57 left and the Knicks down by one point, Hart came up with a steal, but he blew the transition layup.

A few possessions later, he was beaten to a Stephon Castle offensive rebound and fouled the Spurs’ young guard. Castle sank two free throws with 30.3 seconds left to give San Antonio the lead. But Anunoby’s basket saved Hart.

“So I’m sitting there just hoping my guys make a play,” Hart said. “And OG, he’s been amazing since he’s got here. This whole playoff run, he’s been amazing on both ends of the ball. He’s a winning player and he made a winning play.”

It was an emotional victory for the Knicks, who went from getting run off the court to stunning the Spurs.

Hart was thrilled he was able to talk about where it ranks for him in terms of all-time moments in his career, instead of lamenting a few poorly-timed mistakes.

“I won a national championship in 2016. [Jalen Brunson] and [Mikal Bridges] will probably remind you that I only have one and they have two,” said Hart, who had six points, eight rebounds and six assists in 33 minutes on Wednesday night.

“So that night is No. 1. This one is definitely No. 2.”

New York City was buzzing Wednesday night as Knicks fans rejoiced in bars, bodegas, watch parties, city streets, and their own living rooms across the five boroughs after the team’s stunning comeback to win Game 4 — with the NBA championship now just one victory away.

The Knicks stormed back in the second half with the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history to steal Game 4 at Madison Square Garden with a 107-106 win and take a 3-1 series lead over the Spurs.

The Big Apple became one big celebration following the orange and blue’s miraculous rally within the final seconds to clinch the game.

New Yorkers set off fireworks, erupted in booming cheers and chants of “Knicks in Five,” crazily honked, hugged each other, danced in the streets and sang in the subways.

“It was electrifying. Oh my God, words can’t describe it,” Frederick Cassie, 21, of Flatbush, told The Post outside Midtown bar Lady Wilde’s. “This was historical.”

The feeling was electric in all corners of the city.

One joyous fan climbed up the pole of a bus stop sign on Seventh Avenue and did a backflip off it to raucous cheers from hundreds in the street. In Central Park, complete strangers huddled beside each other while watching the game on cellphones. Staten Island’s skies erupted in fireworks, while crowds lined up on Smith Street in Carroll Gardens, chanting “OG, OG, OG!” in reference to Knicks player OG Anunoby’s dramatic game-winning shot.

“Anything can happen in a New York Minute. What the F just happened? Knicks in six,” said Randy Sanchez, 28, from the Hudson Valley.

“I feel so great right now. I’m actually so lit. 
This is amazing. I can’t wait for the next game,” Layla David, 19, said outside the Central Park watch party.

The Knicks can clinch their first NBA title since 1973 with a victory Saturday in San Antonio.

“After tonight, I’m convinced that game five, we are taking it, they’re gonna win in San Antonio, and they’re gonna bring that championship trophy back to New York City, and that parade is gonna be insane,” James Egiziaco, 44, said. “And I’m taking off of work, and I’m gonna be there.”

Madison Square Garden remained packed after Game 4 ended with hometown fanatics too thrilled to leave the arena, clips showed.

“It was the largest comeback ever. If any team could do it, the New York Knicks can. They’re going to win the championship,” Tommy Connors, 19, of Queens, said a few blocks up from the Garden. “Wemby [San Antonio villain Victory Wembanyama] folded under pressure. He couldn’t handle the Garden. He’s crying right now.”

For longtime Knicks faithful, the historic win was even more special.

“I’ve been a fan since ’92. We haven’t won a championship since ’93. This day is a day in history,” Steven St. Pierre, a 40-year-old actor and filmmaker. “We are here to witness it. Let’s go next. Jalen Brunson, the king of New York — he’s getting a statue outside the Garden. Let’s talk about it. Let’s go.”

The Knicks will face the Spurs in San Antonio on Saturday for the chance to win the finals once and for all.

“I’m honored to be a Knicks fan. I love this team. I love this city,” Marco Pace, 18, said. “This was the most truly inspiring game.”

The talk of the basketball world -- and if we're being honest, the sports world -- was on Game 4 between the Knicks and Spurs, especially after the way it ended.

New York completed their miraculous 29-point comeback to take a commanding 3-1 series lead in the NBA Finals. Of course, the highlight of the night was OG Anunoby's flying tip-in with less than two seconds remaining to give the Knicks a one-point lead that they would hold on to.

And with such a momentous game, social media blew up with reactions on the win, including from former, current and future players from around the NBA....

OG Anunoby is different

— Jaylen Brown (@FCHWPO) June 11, 2026

Wow what a game wow

— Tristan Thompson (@TThompson) June 11, 2026

wow 🤯🔥

— Ja Morant (@JaMorant) June 11, 2026

That was actually crazy

— Lonzo Ball (@ZO2_) June 11, 2026

GAME 4 NBA PLAYER CORRESPONDENT AJ DYBANTSA REACTS TO OG'S TIP-IN 🚨

"OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!" pic.twitter.com/3psiHNZr7w

— NBA (@NBA) June 11, 2026

Knicks-mania has even seeped into the WWE with Paul Heyman and Danhausen -- who uncursed the team earlier in the postseason -- chiming in. 

I think it's time we all recognize the NBA has a great creative team and writers. Wow. What a story! Texas heels rout hometown heroes in the 1st half at the World's Most Famous Arena (@TheGarden ), only for the babyfaces to perform the greatest comeback EVER! My compliments!

— Paul Heyman (@HeymanHustle) June 11, 2026

Do not doubt Danhausen.
Do not doubt KNICKSHAUSEN. https://t.co/4Xk9mo2Cj8

— Danhausen (@DanhausenAD) June 11, 2026

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.