{"id":730509,"date":"2026-06-11T22:03:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T22:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/730509\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T22:03:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T22:03:08","slug":"that-was-a-dumbass-play-deaaron-foxs-gaffe-leaves-door-open-for-historic-knicks-comeback-nba-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/730509\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018That was a dumbass play\u2019: De\u2019Aaron Fox\u2019s gaffe leaves door open for historic Knicks comeback | NBA finals"},"content":{"rendered":"

For nearly 47 minutes, the San Antonio Spurs<\/a> looked poised to leave New York with the NBA finals level at two games apiece.<\/p>\n

They\u2019d led by 81-52 in the third quarter, brought a frenzied Madison Square Garden crowd to heel and put themselves on the verge of reclaiming home-court advantage after having dropped the first two games at home. Even after the Knicks mounted a furious second-half fightback and wiped out the entirety of San Antonio\u2019s 29-point cushion, the Spurs still appeared to have one final lifeline.<\/p>\n

Then came a decision that could haunt San Antonio for years if the Knicks go on to end their 53-year championship drought.<\/p>\n

The Spurs led 106-105 with less than 15 seconds remaining Wednesday night when Jalen Brunson\u2019s floating bank shot ricocheted into the backcourt. The loose ball bounced toward De\u2019Aaron Fox, who sprinted after it and found himself racing toward the basket with only a trailing OG Anunoby between him and what looked like a game-clinching score.<\/p>\n

Instead of pulling the ball out and forcing New York to foul, Fox attacked the rim. But Anunoby chased him down and blocked the lay-up attempt.<\/p>\n

Seconds later, the Knicks had the ball back. Brunson missed a 31-footer off the front of the rim, but Anunoby soared in from the top of the key and tipped home the winner with 1.2 seconds remaining, completing an improbable 107-106 victory<\/a> and the largest comeback in NBA finals history.<\/p>\n

Fox did not shy away from explaining his thought process afterward.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to score. Try to get a lay-up, get up three [points]. Force them to need a three,\u201d Fox said. \u201cOG made a good block.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked why he went for the basket rather than dribbling out the clock and forcing a foul, the ninth-year point guard was to the point.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just thought I\u2019d be able to outrun them. That\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The explanation did little to quell the criticism.<\/p>\n

On ESPN\u2019s post-game show, Charles Barkley delivered a verdict that quickly spread across social media and sports television.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a dumbass play,\u201d Barkley said. \u201cHe did not have to shoot that ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

The blunt assessment reflected the reaction around the basketball world. With the Spurs clinging to a one-point lead, Fox had safer options available. He could have retreated from pressure and waited to be fouled, shaving precious seconds off the clock. He could have used San Antonio\u2019s final timeout. Instead, he chose the most aggressive path \u2013 a gamble Anunoby made him pay dearly for.<\/p>\n

Of course, reducing the collapse to a single possession would let the Spurs off too easily. The final mistake merely capped a spectacular unraveling that had begun long before Fox found himself alone in the open floor. San Antonio scored 76 points in the first half but just 30 after half-time. The crisp ball movement and long-distance sharpshooting that had carved apart New York\u2019s defense evaporated as the Knicks chipped away at the deficit.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously let that get away, being up [29 points],\u201d Fox said. \u201cGot away from doing the things that got us up and put ourselves in that position.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we played a little slower,\u201d he added. \u201cThe ball wasn\u2019t moving the same way that it did in the second half like it did in the first half. We didn\u2019t get a flow on the offensive end in the second half.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spurs coach Mitch Johnson saw the same thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got away from what got us the 76 points in the first half,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThen you saw at times the aggressiveness and just conviction that we played with early on dissipate a little bit. They made some shots. That\u2019s where you felt the momentum a little bit. We just needed few more tough-minded plays to finish the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cTo put as much good work into that first half as we did, get the lead that we had and not finish the job, is disappointing to say the least.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wembanyama said he was unable to see Fox\u2019s fateful lay-up attempt after tumbling to the floor during the play, but he offered a curt appraisal of the Spurs\u2019 second-half performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe clearly weren\u2019t the most hungry in the second half,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cStopped moving the ball. Stopped executing.\u201d<\/p>\n

That reality may ultimately be what stings most for San Antonio. Fox\u2019s snap decision did not create the collapse. The Spurs had already let a 29-point lead fritter away by then. What the play did was quash their last best chance to survive it.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing down 3-1 is obviously very different,\u201d Fox said. \u201cBut we feel like we have a team to be able to come back from this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two minutes earlier, the Spurs were still on course to turn these finals into a best-of-three with all the momentum on their side. One costly miscue later, they were staring at the brink instead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For nearly 47 minutes, the San Antonio Spurs looked poised to leave New York with the NBA finals…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":730510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-730509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=730509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/730510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=730509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=730509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=730509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}