NEW YORK — Mike Brown winked.
Jalen Brunson paused.
The patrons of Madison Square Garden stayed attached to each other well after, not able to believe what they had witnessed — the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history.
OG Anunoby etched himself into Knicks and NBA lore, with a performance that put New York on the brink of winning its first NBA title since 1973. His tip-in off a Brunson miss — barely getting his fingertips on it — was the difference in the Knicks’ 107-106 win, which saw them rally from a 29-point deficit.
Brown challenged Anunoby at halftime to be more active on the offensive glass, and it was almost as if fate had intervened when Anunoby outreached the long and athletic San Antonio Spurs’ Dylan Harper and Devin Vassell for the basket.
It was Anunoby who inbounded the ball to Brunson, and Brunson unleashed a deep 3 with 4.3 seconds left.
By 2.1 seconds, Anunoby’s fingers were on the ball, touching history.
“You have to have a little luck in life,” Brown said. “You’ve got to have a little luck in sports. But you can also make your luck, too. So, you’ve got to have some natural luck and some luck where you’re going to make your own luck, and that was probably the biggest message.”
Anunoby was intent on not leaving anything to chance, chasing down Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox for a block on Fox’s layup with 11.7 seconds left when Fox could have held on to the ball and gotten fouled, as San Antonio was nursing a one-point lead.
Fox made several critical errors late that held the door ajar for a Knicks comeback, and Anunoby, who has never made an All-Star team, put himself in position to win NBA Finals MVP with his steady performance through four games.
“We know it’s a game of runs,” said Anunoby, who is averaging 23.8 points on 58% shooting this series. “We’re a resilient group. 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. Just staying with it, cut down to 18, cut it down to six, push it through. It’s a 48-minute game, just play ’til the end.”
More than a couple of shots bounced around the rim before the Knicks completed the comeback that eclipsed the previous record with the Boston Celtics’ rallying from down 24 against the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 4 of the 2008 Finals.
Both rallies resulted in the winning team taking a 3-1 lead, and the Celtics clinched that series in six games to end their 12-year title drought. The Knicks are about 72 hours away from a chance at ending five decades of championship futility.
Jose Alvarado was noted as an unsung contributor, as Brown turned to him late to take Brunson off the ball and present another option. All eight of his points came in the fourth quarter, setting the stage for Anunoby and Brunson to bring things home.
“It’s unbelievable,” Brown said. “You know, the tip, how he had to control it and tip it in, and then like I said, you know, that has to be the most iconic shot in the history of New York basketball.”
These Knicks have made a habit of late comebacks in the playoffs, never fully allowing themselves to believe they were out of a game. The Spurs shot just 20% in the second half after shooting a blistering 60% in the first 24 minutes, and some fans were booing as the Knicks left the floor at halftime.
Brown didn’t show much film and didn’t address the team for a while at the break, preferring to let the players ruminate in their thoughts. All the work they had done in winning two games in San Antonio was about to be erased, and the massive expectations seemed to be suffocating.
“Really wasn’t that much to be said at that point,” Brunson said. “It was really just we need to chip away. We need to hit singles, get on base and make plays from there.”
The Knicks were out of character in the first half. They were intent on laying wood to Victor Wembanyama after Wembanyama’s shove of Brunson in Game 3 but seemingly abandoned their principles as the Spurs hit everything in sight.
Karl-Anthony Towns was in early foul trouble, and Mitchell Robinson picked up a flagrant foul 1 on Wembanyama for nailing him in the face with a forearm in plain sight of the officials. But soon after the third quarter began, it became apparent the Knicks were going to make a game of it; it was reminiscent of Game 1 of the East finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers, when they stormed back from a 22-point deficit in the fourth quarter to earn the win in overtime and effectively end that series before it started.
“The game is not over at halftime, you know, and you just want to continue to chip,” Knicks forward Josh Hart said. “You don’t look at when you’re down 29, we’ve got to whip this game. You look at it when you’re down 29 of OK, let’s get it to 20. There’s three minutes left in the third quarter. We’re down 18, you’re thinking, let’s get it to 10.”
Hart said the fourth quarter is winning time, and usually it’s Brunson time. But it was a team effort, leaving Brown almost speechless.
“Coming from 29 down or 27 down, whatever it is, it gives you the confidence to know that, OK, hey, we are never out of a game,” Brown said. “And if we’re down again, which you hope you don’t get down that much, let’s just keep fighting. Let’s keep doing what we’re doing. But maybe try to do a little better. Make an adjustment here. Make an adjustment there and see what happens.”
What happened was history.
