The New York Knicks are on the cusp of winning their first NBA championship since 1973, thanks to a stunning 107-106 win over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 4 on Wednesday. The Knicks seemed down and out when they trailed by 29 points early in the third quarter, but managed to pull off the largest comeback in NBA Finals history.
Some teams might have thrown in the towel when facing such a deficit, but these Knicks were never going to do that. They still believed, and superstar guard Jalen Brunson’s message to his teammates during the comeback has now been revealed.
“Let’s play basketball now,” Brunson said. “Just be smart and stick together. We’ve come back from worse. Chip away.“
“Let’s play basketball now. Be smart. Stick together. We’ve come back from worse. Chip away”
–– Jalen Brunson in the huddle before the Knicks come back in Game 4 pic.twitter.com/yocbULbJN1
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) June 13, 2026
Well, the Knicks technically had not come back from worse before this. This was the largest comeback win in franchise history.
We had seen the Knicks pull off a ridiculous comeback earlier in these playoffs, though. They were down by 22 points in the fourth quarter of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Defeat seemed almost inevitable, but Brunson would score 15 points in the fourth quarter to help send the game to overtime.
The Knicks went on to win 115-104 and would eventually sweep the Cavaliers. They entered the NBA Finals on an 11-game winning streak and extended it to 13 by winning Games 1 and 2 in San Antonio.
The Knicks found themselves in the driver’s seat with those wins, but then lost Game 3 115-111. They still had the upper hand entering Game 4, but appeared to undo all their good work in the first half.
The Spurs were up 41-22 at the end of the first quarter and led 76-49 at halftime. The visitors set a new record for threes made in a half in the Finals with 14 and had complete control of the contest. The Spurs pushed their advantage to 81-52 with 9:40 left in the third, but Jose Alvarado still believed.
“Stay with it, man,” Alvarado said. “Stay with it. Chop it down. Just chop it down. They going to give it to us.”
Had the Spurs managed to go on another run at that point, the game would have been over. It was the Knicks who landed the next punch, though, going on a 13-0 run to nearly halve the deficit.
The Spurs wouldn’t let them get much closer for the rest of the third quarter, though, and they took a 90-75 lead into the fourth. The visitors then went up by 20 with 9:33 left in the final period, but then got punched in the mouth again.
The Knicks went on a 20-4 run to get within striking range for the first time since the opening stages. It was now anyone’s game, but it looked like the Spurs would eventually come out on top.
Brunson missed a floater with about 16 seconds remaining with the Knicks trailing 106-105. De’Aarox Fox would tip the rebound up the court, and all he had to do after getting to the ball was hold on to it.
The shot clock had turned off, and the Knicks would have had no choice but to foul Fox and send him to the line. He attempted a layup instead, which OG Anunoby blocked to get the hosts the ball back.
Brunson would let it fly from deep on the next possession, but failed to connect. Fortunately for the Knicks, Anunoby managed to tip in the miss to give them the lead with 1.2 seconds remaining. The Spurs wouldn’t even get a shot up on the last play, and fell down 3-1.
Anunoby was the star of the show with 33 points (10-15 FG), four rebounds, one assist, one steal, and one block. Brunson was the leading scorer, though, finishing with 36 points (12-25 FG), five rebounds, seven assists, and three steals. These two will have to be at their best moving forward, too, for the Knicks to finish the job.
Game 5 tips off at Frost Bank Center on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET.
