How Karl-Anthony Towns Quietly Recruited Knicks Fans to Help Steal Game 4 From the Spurs
The most underrated moment of the Knicks’ historic Game 4 comeback didn’t happen on the court. It happened on the sideline. With 1.2 seconds left and New York clinging to a one-point lead, Karl-Anthony Towns waved nearby Knicks fans closer to the Spurs inbounder. Then he calmly deflected the inbound pass and sent everyone home in disbelief.
Towns didn’t ask for permission. He just gestured. The fans surged forward, the noise on the baseline ratcheted up another decibel, and Dylan Harper suddenly had less air to work with. Stephon Castle was supposed to be the target. The pass never got to him.
Smart Veteran Move or Light Cheating?
This is the kind of thing veterans do and rookies don’t. Towns has been around long enough to understand that every inch matters on a final-second inbound. The crowd is already loud. Why not use them as a 6th defender? The refs aren’t going to call anything on the home fans in Game 4 of an NBA Finals with the building electric.
You could argue the Spurs should have called timeout. You could argue Harper needed a better entry pass. You can argue both. But none of that changes the fact that Towns made a basketball play that turned the crowd into a weapon.
The Anunoby Tip-In Gets the Highlight
OG Anunoby is going to live forever in Knicks lore for the tip-in. He crashed the glass between three Spurs defenders, got the ball off Jalen Brunson’s missed three, and laid it in with 1.2 seconds left. That’s the highlight. That’s the photo. That’s the moment everyone replays for the next 20 years.
But Anunoby’s tip-in only matters if the Spurs don’t score on the final possession. Towns made sure they didn’t. The Knicks needed both plays to come back from 29 down. They got both.
The Knicks Roster Just Hit Its Ceiling
This is what Leon Rose paid Karl-Anthony Towns for. Not for the All-Star scoring nights. Not for the floor spacing. For the moments in June when the game gets weird and you need a vet who’s seen this stuff before. KAT delivered.
You also can’t ignore how loose the Knicks looked once Towns started waving fans into position. There was no panic. They had a one-point lead, they had a defensive scheme, and they had the building on their side. The Spurs had a young point guard trying to make a perfect pass in an impossible spot.
The Knicks Are One Win Away
Game 5 is Saturday in San Antonio at 8:30 ET on ABC. A win and the Knicks end the longest active title drought in major American pro sports at 53 years. A loss and we get a Game 6 back at MSG with all the pressure swinging back onto New York.
The Knicks are favored to close it. They’ve owned the second half of every game in the series outside of the first three quarters of Game 4. They have Brunson, Anunoby, and Towns. They have a defensive game plan that’s working. And they have a roster that’s not blinking.
The Verdict
Towns won’t get the headlines for that gesture. He should. The Knicks pulled off the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history because Anunoby tipped one in and Towns waved a few fans into position. That’s basketball IQ on a level you can’t teach. It’s exactly why Knicks fans should feel good about Saturday night.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
