OG Anunoby’s game-winning putback in the final seconds caps an unprecedented 29-point comeback victory by the Knicks in Game 4.<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0Download the NBA App<\/a> NEW YORK \u2014 With the gates opened early to accommodate security screenings, there were extra folks in the stands at Madison Square Garden as the players warmed up. That gave many an extra shot or three at San Antonio\u2019s Victor Wembanyama as he worked out with two San Antonio staffers.<\/p>\n Boos rained down on Victor the Villain as he raced up and down full court. More boos came when he shot free throws (though they lustily cheered the one he missed).<\/p>\n After that, the fun looked to be over for the night for the home fans.<\/p>\n New York fell behind by a lot, then by a bundle, then eventually by 29 points in the third quarter of Game 4<\/a> of the 2026 NBA Finals<\/a> on Wednesday. And that looked as if it would be too big a lead. The Knicks had come back from 22 down<\/a> against Cleveland in the opener of the Eastern Conference Finals<\/a>.<\/p>\n But 22 wasn\u2019t 29. And Wembanyama and the other Spurs weren\u2019t the Cavaliers.<\/p>\n Then the magic kicked in. The ghosts of New York\u2019s freshly ended 13-game playoff winning streak stirred. And \u2014 what do you know? \u2014 the home team finally won a game.<\/p>\n The Knicks are up 3-1, one victory away from ending a 53-year NBA championship drought because they believed when so few others did.<\/p>\n \u201cComing from 29 down \u2026 it gives you the confidence to know that, okay, hey, we are never out of a game,\u201d coach Mike Brown said. \u201cAnd if we\u2019re down again, which you hope you don\u2019t get down that much, let\u2019s just keep fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n Here are four takeaways from the biggest comeback in Finals history:<\/p>\n 1. The NBA\u2019s best 2-way player?<\/p>\n Brown began the evening talking pregame about OG Anunoby (\u201cHe\u2019s gotten better as the series has gone along. I think he can even reach a higher plateau\u201d). By the end of the night, New York\u2019s multi-tool of a player had rendered tens of thousands of people speechless.<\/p>\n Anunoby came up with the two most crucial plays of his team\u2019s improbable comeback. First, Anunoby got a piece of De\u2019Aaron Fox\u2019s ill-advised layup attempt<\/a> with 11 seconds left to set up the Knicks\u2019 final possession. Then he flashed up the lane as Jalen Brunson\u2019s 3-point shot hit the front rim, splitting two Spurs defenders and getting his right hand on the ball to boost New York to a 107-106 lead with 1.2 seconds left.<\/p>\n \u201cOG was one of the guys I challenged,\u201d Brown said, as Wednesday bled into Thursday. \u201cI told OG, as big, as strong, as athletic as he is, he\u2019s got to be a monster on the offensive glass tonight.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if there was a play bigger than any other play in the history in Knicks basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n Said Anunoby: \u201cWhen the shot went up, I was free. There was no one boxing me out. \u2026 The ball went over my head, so I couldn\u2019t really dunk it. So I tried to tip it in softly and it went in.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s been going that way with Anunoby in The Finals and through most of the 2026 NBA Playoffs. When the Knicks win \u2013 which they had done for 13 games in a row until Monday \u2013 he is invaluable, a two-way player who chips in pivotal moments on a regular basis (just not as showy as Wednesday\u2019s). When the Knicks lose, as they had in Game 3<\/a>, he seems undervalued, with media and fans speculating that his coaches and teammates should have looked for him more.<\/p>\n There is nothing, though, that others can tell the Knicks about Anunoby that they don\u2019t already know. And love.<\/p>\n \u201cHis confidence has grown just because of his work ethic, everything that I\u2019ve seen, he\u2019s got exponentially better at,\u201d Brunson said. \u201cSo regardless of what the outside world thinks of him, we know what we have in our locker room.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd we have a superstar in that locker room.\u201d<\/p>\n 2. Spurs take record-breaking gut punch<\/p>\n Things seemed to set up for a rousing return to San Antonio for the Spurs. They were seconds away from doing to the Knicks what the Knicks had done to them \u2013 spoiling a whole lot of pricey fun by sticking the home team and fans not once but twice.<\/p>\n At 2-2, The Finals would have been rendered a mini-series, best-of-3, with San Antonio\u2019s homecourt, er \u2026 advantage restored.<\/p>\n Then the nightmare from which the Spurs could not wake got real. Their 29-point lead \u2013 81-52 with 9:40 remaining in the third quarter \u2013 began to dwindle.<\/p>\n Slowly at first, then seemingly all at once. But the cushion was so plush, wasn\u2019t it? The Knicks had been taking so little away from the Spurs\u2019 multi-headed attack, right?<\/p>\n But what was 20 points with 9:33 left in the fourth was 14 with 7:14 to go. Then 11 at 6:24 and, whoosh, a mere four with 4:34 left thanks to Anunoby\u2019s 3-pointer from the left corner. When Brunson pulled up from 27 feet on the right wing and got New York within 104-103, it suddenly felt like a completely different game.<\/p>\n Up for grabs, as if that fat lead had never happened.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, 76 points one half and 30 [in the second] \u2013 that\u2019s a stark difference in a lot of surface-level things,\u201d Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. \u201cYou don\u2019t get to peel too many layers and dig too deep to find some differences.\u201d<\/p>\n How can the Spurs mount their own comeback now, not from 29 points in a game but from 3-1 in the series? Well, winning at home is possible \u2013 the Knicks just showed them that. There\u2019s a starting point for Saturday\u2019s Game 5 (8:30 ET, ABC<\/a>).<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to go one of two ways. A bad one and a good one,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cThe bad one would be giving up. The good one would be getting stronger through this, getting more together. I know this is what we\u2019re going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Said Johnson: \u201cI told them to feel the emotion tonight, because they\u2019re competitive. That\u2019s unhumanly possible to not. Tomorrow, take all the emotion out. They better be ready to play in two days and win.\u201d<\/p>\n There was an \u201cor else\u201d there that Johnson didn\u2019t even have to voice.<\/p>\n 3. Brunson dons \u2018Captain Clutch\u2019 cape<\/p>\n Jalen Brunson finishes with 36 points (12-25 FGs), five rebounds and seven assists in the Knicks’ 29-point Game 4 comeback.<\/p>\n There was some heresy rumbling around Manhattan this week, with some critics and disappointed Knicks fans plucking Brunson\u2019s plus\/minus number out of the mountain of available stats and wondering if somehow the team was better off in this series when the point guard was sitting rather than playing.<\/p>\n All it took was the 44:27 Brunson played in Game 4, including the entire second half, to flip that argument and demonstrate the fallibility of plus\/minus as an individual rating.<\/p>\n \u201cI say the same thing about Jalen every game,\u201d Brown said. \u201cHe does what an MVP is supposed to. And he did it again.\u201d<\/p>\n Brunson hadn\u2019t shot well in the series before Wednesday but he was 12-for-25 this night, sinking nine of 11 foul shots, scoring 36 points and finishing plus-11 in a 1-point victory.<\/p>\n The distribution of his scoring was fairly even, with 19 points in the first half, 17 in the second, nine in the final quarter. But Brunson\u2019s flair for the dramatic never seems to wane: His 3-pointer with 2:21 left got the Knicks within a point. His floater in the lane gave them their first lead at 105-104. His miss with 16 seconds left had Spurs counterpart De\u2019Aaron Fox sprinting out for what should have been serious clock-killing.<\/p>\n And of course it was Brunson\u2019s shot that Anunoby went and got.<\/p>\n Brunson\u2019s unflappable demeanor served New York well when it retreated to the locker room at halftime trailing 76-49. No fiery speeches. No fists through whiteboards.<\/p>\n \u201cReally wasn\u2019t that much to be said at that point,\u201d Brunson said. \u201cIt was really just we need to chip away. We need to hit singles, get on base and make plays from there.\u201d<\/p>\n The Knicks followed their leader after that.<\/p>\n \u201cMy parents raised me to never be a follower, always be a leader,\u201d Brunson said. \u201cI feel like it\u2019s something that\u2019s helped me grow as a person, and it\u2019s a role I enjoy having \u2026 I enjoy being able to lead by example and lead vocally, as well. But it\u2019s the chemistry with my teammates that allows me to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n The legend grows.<\/p>\n 4. Sixty-five horrible seconds, but not lethal<\/p>\n The madness of the final minutes Wednesday overshadowed the game\u2019s first 65 seconds, when New York\u2019s plans to right the wrongs of Game 3 cratered almost immediately.<\/p>\n Eighteen seconds in, on the Spurs\u2019 first possession, Fox drove inside and got belly-bumped by Towns. Foul on the big guy<\/a> and a 2-0 Spurs lead.<\/p>\n On New York\u2019s second possession, Towns caught a pass, attacked the rim and appeared to be dragging Wembanyama along for the ride.<\/p>\n Johnson challenged the foul on his guy<\/a> (who happened to block Towns\u2019 layup anyway) and got a remarkable reward: Not only no foul on Wembanyama, but also second whistle on Towns. Replays showed that at the very start of the play, Towns caught the ball with one hand while clamping down with his other arm to trap Wemby. The Spurs center went with it, as if his coat got caught in a car door, trying to show the refs. During the review, they saw it<\/a>.<\/p>\n The unthinkable for Knicks fans was happening before many even made it to their seats. Towns was yanked, appeared for just 2:44 in the first quarter, then picked up his third foul and lasted only 5:00 in the second.<\/p>\n Fortunately for New York, Towns played 18 minutes in the second half, had seven points and seven rebounds, helped pester Wembanyama to his 3-for-14 shooting in that half and was around for almost the entire comeback.<\/p>\n * * *\u00a0<\/p>\n Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him\u00a0here<\/a>, find\u00a0his archive here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0follow him on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0Complete coverage:\u00a02026 NBA Finals<\/a><\/p>\n