For nearly three quarters Wednesday night, the New York Knicks looked like a team headed for heartbreak. By the time the final buzzer sounded at Madison Square Garden, they had authored the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history.
The Knicks clawed back from 29 points down to beat the San Antonio Spurs 107-106 in Game 4, moving within a single victory of their first championship since 1973. The decisive moment came with 1.2 seconds left, when OG Anunoby soared in to tip home a missed Jalen Brunson 3-pointer, sending the building into a frenzy and flipping a near-certain loss into a result that will be replayed for years.
A deficit that looked impossible to erase
San Antonio set the tone immediately, just as it had all series. The Spurs jumped to a 12-2 lead, raced ahead 41-22 after the first quarter and carried a 27-point cushion into halftime, the third-largest halftime lead in Finals history. They kept the pressure on into the third, building an 81-52 advantage as the shots kept falling. The young visitors connected on 11 of their first 16 attempts from beyond the arc, and the Knicks had no answer.
The crowd had little to cheer, and the situation only grew tenser when the Knicks scrapped plans for an outdoor watch party. The same security restrictions that surrounded the arena during Game 3, when President Donald Trump attended, remained in place, even though Taylor Swift was the high-profile guest this time. Trump was not at this game.
29 points.
Largest comeback in NBA Finals history 🏆 pic.twitter.com/Ny09ca8BbG
— NBA History (@NBAHistory) June 11, 2026
The tide quietly begins to turn
Then, almost imperceptibly, the math started to shift. The Knicks clamped down defensively, holding San Antonio to 14 points on 4-for-20 shooting in the third quarter and stringing together a 13-0 run to cut the deficit to 90-75 entering the fourth. The Spurs, so dangerous early, went ice cold from deep, finishing the second half just 3 of 17 from 3-point range while New York outscored them 58-30 over the final two quarters.
Brunson carried the charge with 36 points and seven assists, climbing in efficiency as the night wore on. Anunoby was every bit his equal, pouring in 33 points on 10-of-15 shooting and burying seven 3-pointers. Karl-Anthony Towns added 13. With each bucket, the once-impossible felt suddenly within reach.
A finish that hung in the balance
The closing minutes turned into a nerve-shredding exchange. Victor Wembanyama, who finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds but struggled to a 9-for-25 night, missed two free throws with 1:47 remaining and San Antonio ahead 104-103. After New York edged in front, Stephon Castle slipped in for an offensive rebound, drew a foul and sank two free throws to put the Spurs back up 106-105 with 30 seconds left.
The Knicks, who erased a 22-point fourth-quarter hole against Cleveland in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, refused to fold. Anunoby came up with a crucial block on De’Aaron Fox in the final 15 seconds, and after Brunson’s late 3-point try clanged off the front of the rim, Anunoby was there to flick it in. San Antonio had 1.2 seconds to respond, but the inbound pass fell short and the Spurs never got a clean look.
🏆 GAME 4 FINAL SCORE 🏆
Jalen Brunson’s 36 points and OG Anunoby’s go-ahead tip-in with 1.2 seconds remaining secures a Game 4 win at MSG and a 3-1 series lead for the @nyknicks!
OG Anunoby: 33 PTS, 10-15 FGM, 7-9 3PM
Game 5: Saturday, 8:30pm/et, ABC pic.twitter.com/AXChw3Wey3
— NBA (@NBA) June 11, 2026
What it means for the series
The previous record for a Finals comeback was 24 points, set by Boston against the Los Angeles Lakers in 2008, since the league began keeping detailed play-by-play for all four quarters in 1997. The largest rally in any playoff game remains the Los Angeles Clippers’ 31-point recovery against Golden State in a 2019 first-round contest.
New York now holds a 3-1 lead with three chances to close out the title, beginning with Game 5 on Saturday night in San Antonio. The Spurs, who got 21 points from Dylan Harper and 18 apiece from Fox and Devin Vassell, must regroup quickly. Only one team in league history, Cleveland in 2016, has ever recovered from a 3-1 Finals deficit. For a franchise with just two titles in 80 years and no Finals appearance between 1999 and this run, the Knicks have never been closer.
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