If the ratings have been phenomenal for the NBA Finals so far, the numbers for this Game 4 might defy superlatives. Or maybe, to take a cue from ABC play-by-play announcer Mike Breen, they might just be miraculous.
“A miracle comeback!” shouted Breen after time ran out. “Knicks pull off greatest comeback in NBA Finals history!”
Trailing by as much as 29 points at one juncture and by 20 in fourth quarter, the New York Knicks pulled off the greatest comeback game in NBA Finals history at Madison Square Garden to take a 3-1 game series lead over the San Antonio Spurs.
What’s more, should the Knicks win the best of seven contest, it would culminate another improbable comeback: The first NBA Championship in 53 years for the Mecca of Basketball.
The previous one-game comeback record was 24 points, set by the Boston Celtics in the 2008 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Tonight’s last-second play began with New York’s floor captain Jalen Brunson bringing the ball up the court with his team trailing by one point. Brunson, the Knicks’ leading scorer, pulled up with about 5 seconds left to take a 3-point shot which hit the front of the rim and careened off. From nowhere came Knicks’ forward OG Anunoby flying past San Antonio’s 7’5″ center Victor Wembanyama to tip the ball in with just 1.2 seconds left.
Watch below.
How good was it? In New York where — much like Los Angeles — fans start heading for the exits with a few minutes to go, the crowd lingered after the game singing along with frank Sinatra’s New York, New York. ABC cut to shots of a shocked Jerry Seinfeld looking at the scoreboard, Taylor Swift, Mariska Hargitay and the Haim Sisters jumping for joy together; Hargitay hugging Brunson and Timothée Chalamet screaming “Knicks in 5!” at the courtside camera.
Chalamet and Ben Stiller took the celebration out into the halls of MSG, where they literally joined a group of fans jumping for joy.
Swift and the Haim Sisters engaged in a similar celebration with Knicks’ cheerleaders as the trio exited through the tunnel.
By the time ESPN cut to Inside the NBA 10-15 minutes later, the bowl of the Garden was still half full of Knicks fans savoring the team’s greatest win in the past half-century. Forty-five minutes later, as ESPN aired Spurs coach Mitch Johnson’s post-game presser, fans’ cheering and chanting could still be heard from the adjacent arena.
One more to go.
