New York (AFP) – The New York Knicks staged the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history on Wednesday as they erased a 29-point deficit to beat the San Antonio Spurs 107-106 and now need one more win to seal the title. OG Anunoby’s tip-in basket with 1.2 seconds left sealed the thrilling victory to give the Knicks a 3-1 stranglehold on the best-of-seven championship series, which shifts back to San Antonio for game five on Saturday.
Jalen Brunson scored 36 points, and Anunoby added 33 for New York, putting in the game-winner off Brunson’s three-point attempt that struck the rim. “Just do whatever it takes to win,” Anunoby said of the basket that sent a star-studded crowd at Madison Square Garden into a frenzy. Spurs star Victor Wembanyama scored 24 points and pulled down 13 rebounds. Dylan Harper added 21 points, and De’Aaron Fox and Devin Vassell had 18 apiece for San Antonio, who set a Finals record with 14 three-pointers in the first half but couldn’t make their massive lead stick.
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Brunson put New York in front for the first time with a floater that made it 105-104 with 1:22 remaining. San Antonio’s Stephon Castle made a pair of free throws, but the Knicks came through, with Anunoby rising highest from a scrum of Spurs defenders to clinch the win. The previous biggest comeback in the Finals was 24 points, by the Boston Celtics against the Los Angeles Lakers in 2008.
“I can’t really explain it right now,” Wembanyama said of the Spurs collapse after their own epic start. “I don’t know. I think it’s just execution, greediness of some sort. We clearly weren’t the most hungry in the second half.” The Spurs, who dropped the first two games at home but then ended the Knicks’ 13-game winning streak on Monday, came out swinging, connecting on 15 of 23 shots on the way to 41 points in the first quarter. New York made just 29.4 percent of their shots in a first period that saw Karl-Anthony Towns pick up two early fouls, and reserve Mitchell Robinson was called for a flagrant foul after a frustrated forearm to Wembanyama’s throat.
Brunson, hounded mercilessly by the Spurs, didn’t make a basket until the second quarter. The Spurs pushed their lead to 29 points before taking a 76-49 lead into half-time. Their 27-point half-time lead was the largest for a road team in Finals history, but San Antonio scored just 30 points in the second half. “It was an ugly, ugly game,” Towns said. He paid tribute to fans who stayed the course and kept cheering. “We didn’t bring it in the first half. But they stuck with us,” he said.
Wembanyama was assessed a flagrant foul after catching Towns with an elbow to the face early in the third quarter. That left Wembanyama one flagrant foul away from an automatic suspension, and the Knicks seized upon the moment of Spurs hesitation to mount a 13-0 scoring run. The Spurs connected on just four of 20 shots in the third and coughed up five turnovers after having just two in the first half. The Knicks still trailed 90-75 heading into the fourth, but they chipped away against the bewildered Spurs, and their determination paid off.
Towns drove for a tough basket over Wembanyama to pull the Knicks back to 97-88. After Brunson gave the Knicks their first lead with 82 seconds remaining and Anunoby’s go-ahead basket, the Spurs wouldn’t get another shot off. “You talk about a total team effort when we hit adversity,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “Our guys showed their resiliency and showed they’re connected enough to handle a moment like that.”
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