Knicks Erase 29-Point Deficit in Game 4. This Is the Wildest Comeback in NBA Finals History
The New York Knicks were dead. They were down 29 points in the third quarter of Game 4 of the NBA Finals. ESPN’s win probability had them at 0.4 percent. The Spurs were 18 minutes away from tying the series 2-2 at home. Then the Knicks did something no team in Finals history had ever done before.
They won the game.
OG Anunoby tipped in a missed Jalen Brunson three with 1.2 seconds left, and the Knicks beat the Spurs 107-106 to take a 3-1 series lead. It was the largest comeback in the history of the NBA Finals. The previous record was 25 points. The Knicks did 29. They did it on the road. They did it against the team that was supposed to win the title.
Now they are one win away from their first championship since 1973.
The comeback was not luck. The Knicks won the third quarter 30 to 17. They kept chipping. Brunson was the engine, finishing with 36 points and basically dragging his team back into the game one possession at a time. Every time the Spurs tried to extend the lead, Brunson got a bucket. Every time it felt like New York was going to fold, he hit a shot to keep them within touch.
Anunoby was the star nobody saw coming. He finished with a playoff career high 33 points on 10 of 15 shooting, including 7 of 9 from three. He was the X factor all night. When the Spurs collapsed on Brunson, Anunoby kept burying threes. When the Knicks needed a stop, Anunoby was the guy switching onto Victor Wembanyama and not letting him get clean looks at the rim.
The Wembanyama angle is interesting. He had 24 points and 10 boards and was a plus 6 for the game. The Spurs got their numbers from him. They just stopped getting buckets around him in the fourth quarter. Devin Vassell went cold. Stephon Castle could not get to the free throw line. The bench got nothing. San Antonio scored 17 points in the third quarter and 24 in the fourth. That is championship malpractice with a 27 point halftime lead.
Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson is going to take heat for this loss for a long time. The Spurs were getting whatever they wanted in the half court. He never adjusted when the Knicks went to a 2-3 zone. He never went to a hack a Mitchell Robinson strategy when New York started flying around defensively. He let his guys ride the same actions that had been working in the first half. They stopped working. The Knicks adjusted. The Spurs did not.
The other story here is that the Knicks just made themselves the toughest closeout team in the NBA. Going up 3-1 with a chance to clinch at home is the kind of thing that builds a championship identity. The franchise has not been here since the early 70s. The fans waiting outside Madison Square Garden Friday night are going to be insane. The pressure on the Spurs is enormous.
If you are a Knicks fan, savor this. New York has not had a moment like this in over 50 years. Patrick Ewing came close. Carmelo Anthony never got out of the second round. Brunson finally broke the curse. Anunoby tipped in the game of his life. Mike Brown is a couple wins from coaching the Knicks to a title in his first year.
The 29 point comeback is going to live in NBA Finals lore forever. The team that almost choked it away will be remembered as the Spurs squad that handed the Knicks a title.
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.
