The Knicks pulled off the greatest comeback in NBA playoff history, clawing back from 29 down in Game 4 of the NBA Finals to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the series. Here’s how they did it...
The first half was some of the worst basketball the team’s played in recent history. A quick two fouls on Karl-Anthony Towns immediately deflated the arena as the Spurs got out to a 12-2 lead.
New York’s offense was slow out of the gates. Meanwhile, San Antonio couldn’t miss from three. They drove, kicked, filled lanes in transition, and hit a number of tough contested looks en route to a massive 41-point first quarter.
The Knicks didn’t convert a field goal from 4:40 in the first until the start of the second, falling behind by 20 points early. The second quarter was much of the same, as the Spurs kept burying three after three while Jalen Brunson started converting to try and keep up.
There was a clear lack of focus, especially on the defensive end. New York would enter halfcourt possessions unsure of who to match up with and scrambling to recover, even getting beat down the court on makes.
Silly turnovers plagued them once again on the other end.
Towns only got five minutes of burn before picking up his third foul.
Things wouldn’t improve when Victor Wembanyama took the bench -- something that usually offers the Knicks some reprieve. Dylan Harper went off for 13 points in the second quarter as San Antonio built its largest lead at 71-42.
They’d go into the half up 27 points, the largest for a road Finals team in history, having scored 76 points, another road Finals record. Their 14 made three-pointers in the first 24 minutes was an NBA record.
Many asked what, if anything, happened at the half to spark a turnaround. After the game, head coach Mike Brown said he merely wanted his team to play fast and loose, allowing the locker room to then strategize among themselves.
It wouldn’t have been enough, if the Spurs didn’t allow themselves to melt down in tandem. Wembanyama threw a flagrant elbow early in the third quarter that gave the Knicks free throws and put him on his heels physically.
The three-pointers stopped falling, and San Antonio got lazier with their looks, settling for one-pass, semi-contested attempts and giving New York transition opportunities. A 13-0 Knicks run, backed by threes from Brunson, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart put the game within 16, or standard comeback range for this squad.
New York’s defense took the biggest step, forcing multiple turnovers after San Antonio had just two in the first half. They sharpened up the mistakes, closed out more aggressively, and secured timely rebounds.
Brown made an early sub for Jose Alvarado, which would turn out to be a game-changer. The diminutive, frisky guard has provided a positive jolt of ball-handling all series, and played nearly the entire of the fourth quarter alongside Brunson.
This eased some of the ball-handling pressure on Brunson, and gave the Knicks another guy who could break down the tight Spurs defense to create advantages. Their vaunted Defensive Player of the Year barely rested in the second half, and the wear began to show.
Slowly, the Knicks chipped further into the lead as the fourth quarter unfolded. The Spurs had responses, but they were all a point or play short.
A flailing Towns step-back three made it a 12-point game with 7:30 to play, the Spurs hit two free throws, then Anunoby followed up with a three. Brunson started percolating to cut the lead to single digits halfway through the period as the pressure and crowd began weighing on the young Spurs.
A Brunson drive cut the lead to seven, then another Anunoby trey made it a four-point game. His seven makes from deep were the third-most in Finals history, and the Knicks needed every single one.
De’Aaron Fox responded in kind, but Alvarado of all options came up huge with back-to-back buckets. He spun in for a lay-up and splashed a catch-and-shoot three in response to a clutch bucket from Wembanyama, keeping the game within two possessions.
With two minutes to play, Brunson proved himself a clutch savant once again, walking down Wembanyama for a pull-up three, then driving in for a score to give the Knicks their first lead of the game.
A foul on a Stephon Castle offensive rebound gave him two free throws with 30 seconds to play, and San Antonio went back ahead. Brunson tried another layup, missed, and the ball rolled out to Fox, who stormed up court with no shot clock and nobody in front.
He forgot about who might have been trailing him. Instead of dribbling the ball out, he went up for a lay-in, only to get blocked by Anunoby tracking him down.
The Knicks recovered it and Alvarado was fouled by Fox at halfcourt with five seconds to go. The Spurs didn’t put a man on the inbounder, Anunoby, as Wembanyama switched out onto Brunson for the catch.
Fox came over for the double as Brunson lifted up for a deep three. Meanwhile, Anunoby raced down the middle as the ball clanged off the front rim.
With Wembanyama and Fox recovering from the contest and three Spurs boxing out the other Knicks, Anunoby skied over everyone for the miraculous tip-in with 1.2 seconds to play.
San Antonio ran a decoy play for Wembanyama that freed Castle for a potential game-winning oop, but Brown had Towns on the inbounder Harper, and his deflection softened the pass.
Castle tried to recover but was walled up by Hart, as the buzzer rang and Madison Square Garden erupted into pandemonium.
One team made good decisions and caught a stroke of luck, the other made a litany of bad choices, and now New York heads to San Antonio one win away from history.
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