New York moved within one victory of an NBA title after erasing a 29-point deficit to beat San Antonio 107-106 in Game 4. The comeback — the largest in NBA Finals history — gave the Knicks a 3-1 lead in the series, according to ESPN Research.
San Antonio piled up 76 first-half points, the most any road team had scored in the first half of an NBA Finals game and the most the Knicks had allowed in a first half of a playoff contest, per ESPN Research. The Spurs managed just 30 points in the second half, a 46-point drop that ties the largest first-to-second-half decrease by any team in a playoff game in the shot-clock era, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Spurs legend Manu Ginobili voiced his disappointment after the loss.
Jalen Brunson paced New York with 36 points on 12-of-25 shooting, adding seven assists and five rebounds. Brunson followed a 32-point, five-assist, five-rebound performance in Game 3 and became the first player since LeBron James in 2017 to post consecutive Finals games of at least 30 points, five rebounds and five assists in a single series. OG Anunoby finished with a playoff career-high 33 points and converted a tip-in with 2.1 seconds remaining to put the Knicks ahead for good.
Brunson and Anunoby were the first pair of Knicks to each score 30 or more points in the same NBA Finals game. Per the Elias Sports Bureau, Anunoby is the fifth player in the play-by-play era (since 1998) to make his first two career go-ahead attempts in the final five seconds of a playoff game; his prior such shot was a buzzer 3 in the 2020 Eastern Conference semifinals.
New York did not take its first lead until Brunson’s basket with 1:22 left and led for only about 2% of the game. The comeback was especially improbable earlier in the fourth quarter: facing a 95-75 deficit with 9:33 remaining, ESPN analytics put the Knicks’ win probability at 0.4%. Celebrity reactions, including posts from Magic Johnson and Russell Wilson, were prominent after the finish. ESPN Research contributed to this report.
