The New York Knicks were losing Game 4 of the NBA Finals by 29 points. They won it by one, 107-106, with the basket that decided it dropping in the last 1.2 seconds. [1] It is the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history, a line reported the same way by the BBC, CBS News and others. [1]
The shot
The winning points came from OG Anunoby, and the way he got them is its own small miracle of geometry. He inbounded the ball, a Knicks three-point attempt missed, and Anunoby tapped the rescued ball into the basket as the seconds ran out. The Madison Square Garden crowd erupted into chants of "O-G! O-G!"
Knicks coach Mike Brown called it the most iconic shot in the history of New York basketball, and "just unbelievable."
A 29-point lead was supposed to be safe in this series
Here is what makes the number absurd. Through the first three games, the Finals had been a low-scoring, physical series, with both defenses smothering the other team's stars, according to the Spurs community site Pounding The Rock. [2] San Antonio had spent the series trying to corral Knicks stars Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns while limiting OG Anunoby and Josh Hart. [2] In a series where points were this hard to come by, coughing up a 29-point lead in a single night runs against everything the earlier games suggested was possible. [2]
We don't have a public minute-by-minute account of when the deficit peaked, so the exact shape of the climb isn't something we can confirm yet. What is confirmed is the start, down 29, and the finish, up one with 1.2 seconds left. [1]
Which night was it?
One detail the outlets don't agree on is which night this happened. The BBC places the game on Wednesday. CBS News, whose executive producer Alvin Patrick was in the building with his son, says Thursday. [1] The better-evidenced date is Wednesday. Pounding The Rock previewed Game 4 for "Wednesday night," and Game 3, which the Spurs won, was played the Monday before. [2] [3] It's a small thing, and it's exactly the kind of detail worth pinning down.
The series so far
This is the first NBA Finals the Knicks have hosted in 27 years, and the last time they reached this stage, in 1999, they lost to these same Spurs. The win moved New York to a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. [1] The Knicks took Game 1; the Spurs answered by winning Game 3 at Madison Square Garden. [2] One more victory gives the franchise its first championship since 1973, and the first chance comes Saturday night in San Antonio.
Swift, Chalamet, and a city in orange and blue
Watching from the Garden were Taylor Swift, Timothée Chalamet and director Spike Lee. Swift wore a T-shirt reading "Stevie Knicks," a play on the team and the Fleetwood Mac singer, and was twirled by one of the Knicks City Dancers as she left the court. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted a single all-caps word on X: "SPEECHLESS."
The city had dressed for the occasion before tip-off. The Empire State Building and the marble lions outside the New York Public Library's Fifth Avenue branch were both given a Knicks theme. "The city is electric," one fan told the BBC.
What people are saying
The fervor had been building for days. At Governors Ball, New York's biggest music festival days earlier, Knicks flags flew atop the main stage and artists shouted the team out between songs. Diplo performed in Knicks colors. [4] The chant of the moment was "Knicks in 4!" [4]
Not everyone outside New York is enjoying it. A Cleveland Guardians fan, riding an elevator out of a baseball game his own team had just lost, was overheard reaching the conclusion a lot of the country reaches about New York sports. [3]
Where this goes from here
The Knicks need one more win, and they'll try to get it in Game 5 on Saturday night in San Antonio. The case against a coronation is real: the Spurs already stole Game 3 at the Garden, and their young core of Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle has shown it can win on the road in this series. [2] As the BBC noted, comebacks can work both ways. The thing to watch is whether San Antonio can force a Game 6 back in New York, or whether the Knicks finish the job on the road.
Sources
Primary source: Knicks fans go wild as New York team makes biggest comeback in NBA Finals history
- What it was like inside Madison Square Garden during the Knicks' historic Game 4 comeback — reporting
- Game Four Preview : San Antonio Spurs vs . New York Knicks — reporting
- The Yankees are still the Cleveland Guardian October nightmare — reporting
- The best and worst moments from Gov Ball 2026 — reporting