Game 4 of the NBA Finals will forever be remembered for OG Anunoby’s go-ahead putback, which secured the most improbable of Knicks victories on a night they stunned the San Antonio Spurs.
“That has to be the most iconic shot in the history of New York basketball,” head coach Mike Brown said.
But so much else needed to happen before — and even after — Anunoby’s tip-in for the Knicks to emerge with a 107-106 victory at Madison Square Garden and a 3-1 series lead.
A 29-point comeback — the largest in NBA Finals history — doesn’t happen on one play alone.
Here are some of the things you may have missed:
CLUTCH KAT
Anunoby’s putback cleared the net with 1.2 seconds remaining, giving the Spurs just enough time for one final shot.
After a timeout advanced the ball, the Spurs set up an inbound play in which Victor Wembanyama set a screen and a freed-up Stephon Castle surged toward the basket.
From the sideline, the 6-5 Dylan Harper attempted to lob a pass to Castle, who was wide open.
But as the 7-foot Karl-Anthony Towns defended the inbound pass, he managed to barely tip the ball. That caused the ball to travel short of its target, and even though Castle corralled it, he failed to get a shot off.
DE’AARON’S DUD
Immediately preceding Anunoby’s tip-in was a costly decision by the Spurs’ De’Aaron Fox.
With the Spurs up by a point, Jalen Brunson missed a floater over Wembanyama high off the backboard.
Multiple players got a hand on the loose ball, and it bounded all the way into the backcourt before Fox gained possession with 12.9 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
But instead of trying to run out more time or take a foul, Fox darted to the basket and attempted a lay-up, which Anunoby blocked.
“I just thought I’d be able to outrun him,” Fox said. “That’s it.”
Jose Alvarado came away with the rebound, setting up the Knicks’ game-winning possession.
NEAR-HART ATTACK
Perhaps nobody was happier about Anunoby’s game-winner than Josh Hart, who missed a breakaway lay-up with just under two minutes to go.
With the Spurs up by a point, Hart came away with an errant pass by Fox and had a clear path to the basket.
But with Devin Vassell tailing him, Hart went up with both hands and was a bit too strong, sending the ball off the back of the rim.
“I’ve got a special shout-out for OG, man, because he saved me, at least for this game, a lifetime of regret,” Hart said.
PAINT PATROL
Why was the paint so open for Anunoby’s putback?
The 7-4 Wembanyama — and his 8-foot wingspan — contested Jalen Brunson’s deep 3-pointer at the beginning of the possession, while Fox also went straight to Brunson.
Brunson’s shot clanked off the rim, but nobody boxed out Anunoby, who had inbounded the ball and had a clear path to the rebound.
“I was contesting the first shot,” said Wembanyama, the unanimous NBA Defensive Player of the Year. “Turned around and saw him up there. That’s all I saw.”
Stephon Castle was asked at point did he realize Anunoby was surging to the basket.
“I don’t think any of us did,” Castle said. “I had Towns. I tried to make sure he didn’t get the offensive rebound. I didn’t really see him.”
WEMBY WILTS
It was a second half to forget for Wembanyama.
The Knicks trailed, 81-52, when Wembanyama’s elbow caught Towns in the chin, resulting in a flagrant foul.
That kicked off a 13-0 run for the Knicks, who went on to outscore the Spurs 55-25 from that point on. Incredibly, San Antonio shot just 6-of-35 during that stretch.
After a strong start, Wembanyama went particularly cold, missing 10 of his last 12 shots. He settled for outside jumpers, but he uncharacteristically missed multiple shots near the basket, too.
Perhaps most damning were a pair of missed free throws with 1:47 remaining as the Spurs clung to a one-point lead.
“It feels like we worked too hard to give up our leads,” Wembanyama said. “It’s as simple as that. It just hurts.”
CASTLE CONUNDRUM
Castle spent much of the game either playing or sitting with foul trouble — a big blow for San Antonio considering the 21-year-old guard has been the Spurs’ second-best player this postseason.
He played only 15 minutes in the second half.
Castle picked up his fourth foul with 10:09 left in the third quarter and went to the bench for nearly five minutes, during which the Knicks shaved their deficit from 27 to 19.
He then picked up his fifth foul with 6:09 left in the fourth and, after staying in until there was 4:32 to go, went back to the bench for nearly two more minutes.
“When I was on the court, just trying to make sure our defense was in the right spots, trying to limit them to one shot,” Castle said. “For us, it’s trying to stay out of foul trouble so we can stay on the court.”
3-POINT OUTAGE
The Spurs shot 14-of-26 (53.8%) from 3-point range in the first half, taking advantage of a discombobulated Knicks defense on which the rotations were all thrown off when Towns picked up two fouls in the game’s first 62 seconds.
The 14 made 3-pointers set an NBA Finals record for a half.
The Spurs’ 27-point lead at the break also set a Finals record for biggest halftime advantage by a road team.
But the Spurs went cold from deep in the second half, shooting just 3-of-17 (17.6%) on 3-pointers as the Knicks’ defense composed itself. Wembanyama, who scored five baskets within five feet of the rim in the first half, managed only one in the second half.
“There were parts, third quarter and early-to-mid in the fourth quarter, again, where we got away from playing the brand of basketball that got us the lead,” Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson said.
“Then you saw at times the aggressiveness and just conviction that we played with early on dissipate a little bit.”
COMEBACK KIDS
The Knicks have a knack for the dramatic, but this time was on a different level.
It was the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history, and the second biggest in playoff history, behind only the Los Angeles Clippers’ 31-point comeback against the Golden State Warriors in the 2019 first round.
The Knicks became the first team since at least 1971 to trail by 17 points in the final nine minutes of a Finals game and win. Teams were previously 0-96 in that scenario.
The Spurs had a win probability of 99.6% as late as the 9:33 mark of the fourth quarter, when they led 95-75.
And Wednesday marked the fifth time since at least 1997 that a team won after trailing by 20 or more points in a playoff game. Two of those instances belong to this year’s Knicks, who overcame a 22-point deficit to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Teams are now 5-751 in that scenario.
“We’re a resilient group,” Anunoby said. “We’ve been through a lot. We’ve come back plenty of times when we’re behind. Just staying with it, weathering the storm, not being too down or angry or frustrated.”
