The San Antonio Spurs now own the worst collapse in NBA Finals history, but they refuse to be counted out yet. While the New York Knicks look to clinch their first NBA title since 1973, the Spurs aim to stay alive in the best-of-seven series when they host Game 5 on Saturday night.
New York holds a 3-1 lead after overcoming a 29-point deficit in Game 4 and notching a 107-106 victory over the crestfallen Spurs. “The games that we’re losing have all been close games,” San Antonio point guard De’Aaron Fox said on Friday. “We still have that belief that we have a chance to win. But we’re taking this one game at a time.”
The Knicks won 105-95 and 105-104 in San Antonio to open the series. The Spurs recorded a 115-111 win in New York in Game 3 before the stunning meltdown on Wednesday. The previous largest documented comeback in an NBA Finals game was 24 by the Boston Celtics over the Los Angeles Lakers in 2008.
San Antonio led by 20 with 9:33 left in the game. Five minutes later, its lead was just four. The Knicks finished off the comeback with OG Anunoby’s stellar tip-in with 1.2 seconds remaining. Knicks coach Mike Brown is setting aside all the feel-good moments as his club endeavours to end the 53-year title drought. He rates trying to close out the Finals in a Game 5 at San Antonio as a tough chore.
Knicks star guard Jalen Brunson has not forgotten his team was down 29 in Game 4. Otherwise, he’s only looking ahead. Brunson recorded 36 points and seven assists in Game 4 and has scored 30 points or more three times in the series. Anunoby established career postseason bests of seven 3-pointers and 33 points to go with the tip-in that is already etched in Knicks’ lore.
Victor Wembanyama recorded 24 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots but was just 9-of-25 shooting in Game 4. He has scored at least 24 points in each game but is shooting just 43.5 percent from the field in the series. Only one team has overcome a 3-1 series deficit to win the NBA title. That was the LeBron James-led 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers who recovered to beat a Golden State Warriors’ squad that won 73 regular-season games. Wembanyama insists San Antonio can equal that feat.
Source: www.aljazeera.com