By Amy Tennery
NEW YORK, June 10 (Reuters) – OG Anunoby’s late game-winner will go down as the greatest play in New York Knicks history, coach Mike Brown said, as the home team clinched the biggest comeback ever in the NBA Finals to beat the San Antonio Spurs 107-106 in Game 4 on Wednesday.
The Knicks clawed their way back from a 29-point deficit as the once-demoralized Madison Square Garden crowd erupted with deafening joy when the London-born Anunoby tipped in All-Star point guard Jalen Brunson’s missed three-point attempt with 1.2 seconds left on the clock.
“That has to be the most iconic shot in the history of New York basketball,” Brown said. “It was just unbelievable.”
The Knicks will travel to San Antonio for Game 5 and are just one win away from ending a title drought that dates back to 1973, with even the jaded New York fans ready to believe.
“I don’t know if there was a play bigger than any other play in the history in Knicks basketball,” Brown said.
Few could have predicted the outcome at halftime, as the Spurs put on a boastful display of their prowess with an NBA Finals record 14 three-pointers made in the first two quarters and their towering French superstar Victor Wembanyama having shaken off the nerves he showed at moments in the first two games of the series.
With pop sensation Taylor Swift on the sidelines, kicking the Knicks’ already formidable “Celebrity Row” into another stratosphere of fame, New York began to blossom under the Garden’s bright lights, with Anunoby and Brunson leading the charge with the lead trimmed to 15 points after the third.
“We know it’s a game of runs. 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,” Anunoby said. “Just staying with it, cut down to 18, cut it down to 6, push it through. It’s a 48-minute game, just play till the end.”
Back-to-back threes from Brunson and Jose Alvarado late in the fourth put the Knicks just one point behind, as the New York fans who shelled out top-dollar for the eye-poppingly expensive tickets got their money’s worth.
“I challenged a lot of our guys today and OG was one of the guys I challenged,” Brown said, marveling at the athleticism that clinched the game. “I told OG, as big, as strong, as athletic as he is, he’s got to be a monster on the offensive glass tonight.”
“That was a huge offensive rebound. Huge offensive rebound. He took on the challenge, and he went and won the game for us.”
The Knicks play the Spurs in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Saturday in San Antonio.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)
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