San Antonio (AFP) – The New York Knicks authored the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history to put themselves on the cusp of a title but say they can’t keep falling so far behind if they want to lift the trophy for the first time in more than 50 years.
“Obviously that game is a hardwood classic, something that the NBA has never seen before,” Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns said of New York’s rally from 29 points down to beat the San Antonio Spurs 107-106 in game four of the best-of-seven series. New York took a 3-1 stranglehold edge, but on the eve of Saturday’s game five in San Antonio, Towns said the Knicks had little time to celebrate.
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“Of course that night we all enjoyed the shell shock of what happened,” he said. “But we all understood the next morning that we had to get back to work, and we had to lock back in and get ready to find a way to win another one. Also, in that moment of jubilation, that moment of absolute joy, we have to talk about the elephant in the room: we just didn’t play well at all and we put ourselves in that deficit. So while there is joy, there is also frustration that we even allowed ourselves to be in that kind of position, especially as much as the deficit was.”
With the embattled Spurs drawing confidence from the fact that they’ve held double-digit leads in every game, New York’s Josh Hart said it’s imperative that the Knicks snuff out San Antonio’s hopes early. “We can’t keep getting into a hole and trying to dig ourselves out of a hole,” Hart said. “We were fortunate to do that last game — actually three of our wins. We’ve got to do a better job of starting games off.”
Towns said it will require a “desperation” that is part and parcel of the Knicks’ “0-0” mindset. Saturday’s clash is the first of three chances to close out the series and capture the storied franchise’s first title since 1973. But the Knicks say they’re approaching each game as if they’re starting from scratch. “We’ve got to approach every game like it’s 0-0,” Towns said. “The hardest game to win is the one that ends someone’s season, so we’ve got to be our best version tomorrow.”
Knicks coach Mike Brown acknowledged it’s hard not to get complacent. After all, the Knicks had won 13 straight playoff games before the Spurs snatched game three on Monday and have been hailed as heroes in the wake of their historic game four triumph. “We’re all human,” Brown said. “It was hard even in the series that we swept. You win two, three, four, five games in a row, there’s a tendency to relax a little bit.”
“That’s just in life. In your job, you have success for 10 months straight, maybe you feel like, I got this, I know what I’m doing. You’re not as sharp then because everybody has been patting you on your back and telling you how great you are.” The biggest thing is everybody has to stay present,” Brown said. “You can’t think about the outcome.”
© 2024 AFP
