NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 A record-breaking comeback, capped off by what could go down as a legendary play.<\/p>\n
The long road back to the top of the NBA is almost complete for the New York Knicks, and the step they took Wednesday night was unforgettable.<\/p>\n
The Knicks came from 29 points down and moved to the brink of their first championship since 1973 by beating the San Antonio Spurs 107-106 in Game 4 of the finals on OG Anunoby’s tip-in with 1.2 seconds remaining.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat has to be the most iconic shot in the history of New York basketball,\u201d Knicks coach Mike Brown said.<\/p>\n
It’s certainly high on the list \u2014 as high as Anunoby leaped when Jalen Brunson’s long 3-point shot bounced off the front of the rim, with his right hand stretching high to softly flick it in.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight hand from God,\u201d Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns said.<\/p>\n
The Knicks, who have just two titles in their 80-year history and hadn’t even been to the NBA Finals since 1999, have a 3-1 lead and three chances to win the best-of-seven series \u2014 starting with Game 5 on Saturday night in San Antonio.<\/p>\n
It looked impossible early, when the Spurs rolled to a 27-point halftime lead. But Brunson helped bring the Knicks back with 36 points and Anunoby finished with 33.
\nThe Knicks weathered a playoff storm<\/p>\n
No team had come from more than 24 points down in a finals game, when Boston did it against the Lakers in 2008, since the NBA began keeping detailed play-by-play for all four quarters in 1997. The Spurs led 81-52 in the third quarter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re a resilient group. We\u2019ve been through a lot,\u201d Anunoby said. \u201cWe\u2019ve come back plenty of times when we\u2019re behind. Just staying with it, weathering the storm, not being too down or angry or frustrated.\u201d<\/p>\n
The only bigger comeback on record in any playoff game was 31 points by the Los Angeles Clippers against Golden State in Game 2 of a first-round series in 2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou look at it when you\u2019re down 29 of, \u2018OK, let\u2019s get it to 20.\u2019 There\u2019s three minutes left in the third quarter, we\u2019re down 18, you\u2019re thinking, ‘Let\u2019s get it to 10,\u201d forward Josh Hart said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the fourth quarter, you\u2019re like, this is winning time. Anything can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
And it did.
\nThe Spurs started out awesome but then were awful<\/p>\n
The Knicks had their 13-game winning streak snapped in Game 3 and seemed headed for a second straight defeat throughout the first half, when Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs opened the biggest halftime lead by a visiting team in the finals.<\/p>\n
But the young Spurs, who made 11 of their first 16 3-pointers, went cold in the second half, going 3 for 17 behind the arc as the Knicks outscored them 58-30.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got on our heels \u2014 we missed some shots,\u201d Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. \u201cIt\u2019s disappointing, to say the least.\u201d<\/p>\n
Delirious fans inside Madison Square Garden sang along to Journey’s \u201cDon\u2019t Stop Believin\u2019\u201d a few minutes after watching something that seemed almost impossible.<\/p>\n
Wembanyama had 24 points and 13 rebounds but shot just 9 for 25 from the field.<\/p>\n
Road teams had won the first three games, only the second time that had happened in the finals. San Antonio was well on its way to making it 4 for 4.<\/p>\n
Knicks scrap watch party and fans have nothing to cheer early<\/strong><\/p>\n President Donald Trump wasn\u2019t at this game \u2014 Taylor Swift was \u2014 but the same restrictions remained around Madison Square Garden as when he attended Game 3. That angered the Knicks, who decided not to go forward with plans to hold an outdoor watch party outside the arena.<\/p>\n Inside the building in the first half, there wasn\u2019t much for the hosts to be happy about, either.<\/p>\n But the Knicks gave themselves a chance by limiting the Spurs to 14 points on 4-for-20 shooting in the third quarter, using a 13-0 run to get back in it and cutting it to 90-75 heading to the fourth.<\/p>\n These Knicks, who erased a 22-point deficit in the fourth quarter against Cleveland in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, just don\u2019t quit. Even when the comeback seemed for naught when Stephon Castle was fouled after the Knicks had taken the lead and made two free throws to put San Antonio back ahead with 30 seconds left, the Knicks had one more rally in them.<\/p>\n Dylan Harper scored 21 points and De’Aaron Fox and Devin Vassell each had 18 for the Spurs, who will try to regroup and send the series back to New York for Game 6 next Tuesday. Only one team \u2014 Cleveland in 2016 \u2014 has recovered from a 3-1 deficit in the finals.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it began before (the fourth quarter),\u201d Wembanyama said of the Spurs’ collapse. \u201cI can\u2019t really explain it right now. I don\u2019t know. … We clearly weren\u2019t the most hungry in the second half.\u201d<\/p>\n Fans booed Wembanyama when he came on to the floor to warm up about an hour before the game and the Knicks tried to get rough with him, with Mitchell Robinson called for a flagrant foul for hitting him above the shoulders and Jose Alvarado reviewed for one after going below the belt.<\/p>\n Wembanyama \u2014 who was also called for a flagrant \u2014 stood up OK against the Knicks but will regret the two free throws he missed with 1:47 left and San Antonio leading 104-103.<\/p>\n The Spurs broke to a 12-2 lead, giving them a double-digit advantage in the first quarter of all four games. They kept pouring it on and led 41-22 after one, then extended it to 57-32 when Julian Champagnie\u2019s 3-pointer made them 11 for 16 behind the arc.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NBA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 A record-breaking comeback, capped off by what could go down as a legendary play. The long road back to the top of the NBA is almost complete for the New York Knicks, and the step they took Wednesday night was unforgettable. The Knicks came from 29 points down and moved to … Continue reading Knicks complete record rally from 29 points down and beat Spurs 107-106 for 3-1 NBA Finals lead<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1452],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1514744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-06-13 03:37:49","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[0],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1514744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1514744"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1514744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1514745,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1514744\/revisions\/1514745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1514744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1514744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1514744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}