Knicks erase 29-point deficit, beat Spurs in Finals Game 4

Madison Square Garden went from stunned silence to a civic detonation as the Knicks erased a 29-point deficit and beat the San Antonio Spurs 107-106 in Game 4 of the NBA Finals. The comeback, finished by OG Anunoby’s tip-in with 1.2 seconds left, gave New York a 3-1 series lead and put the franchise one win from its first championship since 1973.

The scale of the rally matched the emotion around it. San Antonio had led by as many as 29 points and by 15 entering the fourth quarter, and the Spurs scored 76 points in the first half, the most by any road team in a Finals first half in the ESPN summary. Jalen Brunson drove the Knicks with 36 points, seven assists and five rebounds, while Anunoby delivered a playoff career-high 33 points and the decisive finish at the rim. Mike Brown captured the moment afterward, saying, “That has to be the most iconic shot in the history of New York basketball.”

The night carried meaning well beyond one possession. It was the Knicks’ first NBA Finals appearance since 1999, and the Garden became the center of the city’s attention, with the game among the hottest tickets in New York. Celebrity rows included Taylor Swift, Michael J. Fox, Tracy Pollan, Ben Stiller, Tracy Morgan, Adam Sandler and Nas, and Swift had traveled cross-country from Los Angeles the night before to be there. Outside the arena, the reaction spilled into Midtown Manhattan, Times Square and Central Park watch parties, where crowds gathered before pushing the celebration into the streets after the final buzzer.

The victory also extended a postseason run that has reshaped expectations around a long-suffering franchise. The Knicks swept Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals and entered the Finals on a 10-game playoff winning streak, then added another layer of history by completing what game coverage described as the largest comeback in NBA playoff history. Inside the Garden, belief became part of the event itself, and by the end of Game 4, New York was no longer waiting for a breakthrough. It was one win away from the one it has chased for more than half a century.