WOW!! The New York Knicks completed the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history, beating the San Antonio Spurs 107-106 in Game 4 to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. The Knicks are one win away from their first NBA championship since 1973, third in franchise history. Madison Square Garden was unusually quiet when the Knicks left the court at halftime, down 76-49, after the Spurs came out and blitzed New York from deep going 14/26 from 3-pt range.

Things were looking dire for the Knicks as Karl-Anthony Towns picked up 3 first half fouls, two incredibly early in the first quarter, and was completely neutralized.

For whatever reason, San Antonio decided against attacking the paint and looking for Victor Wembanyama on lobs and, instead, chose to jack up quick 3’s and jump shots, even with such a large halftime lead. This strategy backfired spectacularly for Mitch Johnson, Wemby, Stephon Castle, De’Aaron Fox and the rest of the team, who were only able to put up a paltry 30 points over the course of the 2nd half. Shockingly, the Spurs 3-pt shooting sputtered, as they only hit 3 of their 17 attempts. Once the MSG crowd sensed what was happening they knew what to do and brought the noise. The more the crowd lost their minds’ the better the Knicks played and the tighter the Spurs players’ became. Even down 90-75 at the start of the fourth quarter, the crowd believed. This belief and energy filtered down into the players and gave them the fuel they needed to achieve the impossible.

The Knicks comeback began in earnest with about 8 minutes left in the fourth quarter, down 95-80.

Stephon Castle misses a tough jumper as the shot clock expires, Karl-Anthony Towns follows that up with a 3 with Keldon Johnson draped all over him – a very hard shot. Strangely, for how well KAT has played, the 3 was his first fourth quarter bucket of the NBA Finals. Castle goes on to hit a pair from the free throw line. OG Anunoby swishes a 3 from the wing. Dylan Harper wastes a valuable possession by throwing the ball away. KAT lays it in. Castle makes another pair of free throws. Jalen Brunson gets to the free throw line and goes 2 for 2. Julian Champagnie and Devin Vassell, who was on fire in the first half, both miss consecutive 3’s. OG drills another 3, this one from the left corner. Mitch Johnson has to take a timeout with 4:32 left in the quarter and a slim 99-95 Spurs lead. De’Aaron Fox immediately hits a 3. Jose Alvarado goes on to score the biggest 5 points of his career, with a Wembanyama jumper sandwiched in-between. After GTA’s 3, Fox tries to answer with his own 3, but can’t make it. Brunson goes on to hit an incredible 3 over Wemby’s out-stretched arm to cut the Spurs lead down to 1-point, 104-103 2:21 left. This is when the game went into overdrive, just like the crowd.

Josh Hart made a great read and jumped in-front of a De’Aaron Fox pass. Unfortunately for him, he got stuck in two minds on the break and blew the go-ahead layup. Victor Wembanyama then drew a foul and went to the free throw line. Maybe it was the pressure of the moment or the intensity of the crowd, whatever the reason Wemby missed both free throws. Jalen Brunson came back the other way and made the go-ahead floater with 1:22 left, 105-104 NYK. Stephon Castle tried to sneak by Hart baseline, but was driven out of bounds for an untimely Spurs turnover. Brunson goes on to miss a jumper late in the shot-clock. San Antonio gets the rebound and calls timeout. Fox takes a jump shot after the timeout, but misses. Luckily, Castle is active on the glass, nabs the offensive rebound and forces up a shot, where he is fouled. He makes both pressure packed free throws, giving the Spurs the lead, 106-105, with 30.3 left.

Now, there are two incredible, game-altering plays that will live in Knicks lore forever if New York goes on to win the NBA Championship, both made by OG Anunoby. He finished with 33-points and a team-high 7 made three’s.

The first one comes when Jalen Brunson takes a jumper with 16.1 left and the ball careens back towards halfcourt off the miss. De’Aaron Fox tracks the ball down and uses his speed to get ahead of the pack and attempt a layup. Mind you, the Spurs were only up one point, so a layup doesn’t really help, like running out the clock would’ve been. Fox goes up for the layup and is blocked from behind by OG. His timing and quick hands have made it difficult on whoever he’s guarded this series. This is the ultimate example of his never give up attitude. New York was able to wrangle the rebound and call timeout, setting up a chance to win the game with 5.7 seconds left.

Nobody other than Jalen Brunson, who scored 36-points, was taking the final shot, and the Spurs knew it. As soon as he got the ball, a double-team was sent his way. Brunson saw it coming and decided to take a 30-ft 3-pointer. His shot missed, but hung in the air long enough for OG Anunoby to crash the boards and tip it in, giving the Knicks a 107-106 lead with only 1.2 seconds left. When the tip went in the crowd exploded, it seemed like everyone lost their minds’ at the same time. Being in the building for a moment like that has to be something those fans will remember for the rest of their lives.

Dylan Harper has had a tremendous Finals for a rookie, he scored 21-points in Game 4, but he is the main culprit during the OG tip in. The Spurs are a sneaky small team outside of Wembanyama and have to rely on their guards/wings to box out and rebound. In this case, Harper saw the shot go up, but didn’t get his body on OG, who had a clean lane, got a running start and out-jumped everyone to score the winning bucket. If Harper could’ve just gotten a little bit of his body in the way of OG then the timing of the shot would’ve been off and OG probably doesn’t make it. Instead, Harper blanks on his assignment and gives up the go-ahead points. He’s a rookie, so things like this are bound to happen, but it just stinks for him that it came on the biggest and brightest stage. It’s something he will have to live with for the rest of his NBA career.

San Antonio was stunned. They had a timeout left and took it, but with just 1.2 left on the clock the options to score were limited. Mitch Johnson drew up a look where Wemby screened for Stephon Castle. The Knicks had Wemby covered, so Dylan Harper threw the out of bounds pass to a back cutting Castle, who kind of bobbled the ball and couldn’t even release a shot before the buzzer sounded. At that point it was pandemonium, Karl-Anthony Towns was at center-court damn near crying with his hands raised. Everyone in the crowd couldn’t quite believe what had just transpired. There were so many hugs, high-fives and hat-tips going on. The one guy who remained level-headed was the star man, OG Anunoby. He looked totally relaxed and unphased during his on-court postgame interview. Even with his team up 3-1 in the NBA Finals, he knows the job isn’t done just yet. Will Wemby and San Antonio have anything left after such a demoralizing loss? Or will the New York Knicks break their long, long championship drought? Tune into Game 5 on Saturday night to find out.