When New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson scored a 3-pointer over the outstretched arm of San Antonio Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama with 2:21 remaining in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday, Madison Square Garden sounded like the inside of a jet engine.
This particular Brunson 3 cut the Spurs’ lead – which had ballooned to 29 – to just one, and fans could sense an improbable finish. The structural integrity of Section 325 was in question as the roar of the crowd literally caused the upper portions of the arena to begin to rumble.
Just over two minutes later, the Knicks completed the greatest Finals comeback in NBA history, as OG Anunoby’s one-handed save with 1.2 seconds remaining ultimately secured a 107-106 victory for New York.
“I’ve never heard it so loud,” one of the many famous Knicks fans could be heard saying in the bowels of the arena after the game.
With a victory Saturday in Game 5, New York will win its first NBA title in 53 years.
The Knicks began their climb in the third quarter. Trailing by 27 points at halftime, New York won the third quarter 26-14. The Knicks held the Spurs to just 20% shooting that quarter, while hitting 5 of 10 3-pointers to begin to close the deficit.
In the fourth, San Antonio still led by 20 with 9:33 remaining. Over the next four minutes and 59 seconds, New York went on a 20-4 run to cut the deficit to 99-95. The run, fittingly, was capped with a 3 by Anunoby.
The last four minutes and 34 seconds were then marked by an absolutely shocking number of twists and turns.
Within a minute of Anunoby’s 3-pointer, the Spurs cut their lead to seven with 3:31 left. Trailing 104-97, Knicks guards Jose Alvarado and Brunson responded with back-to-back 3s, cutting the score to 104-103.
On San Antonio’s ensuing possession, De’Aaron Fox made a bad pass and Knicks guard Josh Hart stole the ball. He had a wide open lane to the hoop and drove to the rim for an uncontested layup…and he missed!
(Hart said after the match that he would have had “a lifetime of regrets” if Anunoby had failed to win the game.)
Things got even crazier. After Hart smoked the layup, New York fouled Wembanyama and put him at the free throw line. But Wemby, who entered the game shooting 86.2 percent, missed both shots.
On the Knicks’ next move down the court, Brunson hit a floater in the lane to give New York its first lead of the game with 1:22 left.
Spurs continued to look disconcerted on attack after falling behind. They turned the ball over again on their next possession, but forced a shot clock violation to regain possession with 38.8 seconds remaining.
After a timeout, Fox missed a jump shot, only for Stephon Castle to grab the offensive rebound and foul Hart in the process. Castle stepped to the line and made two free throws to give San Antonio a 106-105 lead with 30.3 seconds remaining.
This paved the way for perhaps the biggest mistake of the game.
The Spurs forced a miss after Castle’s free throws, and the rebound bounced all the way to the backcourt. Fox got the ball back on the Knicks side with about 14 seconds left…but instead of holding the ball up and getting fouled, Fox attempted a layup that was blocked by Anunoby.
With the ball trailing by only a point after the OG block, Brunson missed a deep 3-pointer that Anunoby cleaned up with his right hand, hitting what New York coach Mike Brown called “the most iconic shot in New York basketball history.”
“I told OG, as big, as strong, as athletic as he is, he has to be a monster on the offensive glass tonight,” Brown said after the game. “I don’t know if there was a play greater than any other play in Knicks basketball history. It was a huge offensive rebound. He rose to the challenge and he went out and won the game for us by doing exactly what I called him for in shootaround today.”
Alvarado said: “He did it the entire playoffs. [Anunoby] for crushing the board and doing something special.
Anunoby said he initially wanted to try to dunk Brunson’s miss, but he had to pivot after the ball went over his head.
“So I tried to gently tip it and it went in,” he said.
Despite it being one of the greatest plays in not only Knicks history but also NBA Finals history, Anunoby showed no extra emotion after the game.
“It’s cool. I mean, everyone’s pretty excited. I’m excited too,” a stoic Anunoby said with a laugh during his post-match press conference. “We’re enjoying it right now. But we’re just focusing on the next game now.”
