Sit, the house.
If you turned off your TV at halftime of Game 4 last night, you missed “Ozymandias” (Very bad) NBA Finals 2026 episode. The New York Knicks staging the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history, at home and in front of every celebrity you and your daughter have heard about, was a true episodic masterpiece for ABC. And it was all a ring finger for OG Anunoby away from not happening.
The Bandwagon players could be forgiven for exiting the game after just the first quarter, when Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs posted a 21-point lead. After another quarter, the gap had widened to 27. It would get one bucket worse for Knicks fans before it got much better.
Even the Wu-Tang Clan’s halftime performance couldn’t pull the New Yorkers out of their funk. With 9:40 left in the third quarter, the Spurs had a 29-point lead. History has told us that this is over. No one told Knicks.
The biggest comeback ever in the NBA Finals up to that point occurred in another Game 4, by the Boston Celtics against the Los Angeles Lakers. But this deficit was only 24 points – Boston still has two and a half quarters to play. Eighteen years later (from the start of the game), the Knicks’ probability of winning was less than half of one percent. In retrospect, the number should have been a constant zero.
The game is over. My eldest daughter, who is 9, had snuck downstairs from her bed to have some fun. Looking at the scoreboard, she didn’t protest much as she turned around again. Given what happened next, it’s not clear whether I was a good or bad father. Hey, at least I got to see Taylor Swift.
On Wednesday, Madison Square Garden’s “Celebrity Row” nearly extended to the mezzanine. What the beautiful celebrities saw firsthand was a Hollywood ending better than most of their films. Sitting with Swift were sisters Haim and Mariska Hargitay (when she finally got there). There were also Jimmy Fallon, Jerry Seinfeld, Kevin Jonas, Ben Stiller, Rainn Wilson, Tracy Morgan, Larry David, Timothée Chalamet, Kylie Jenner, Spike Lee, Fat Joe, Nas, Edie Falco, Alex Rodriguez, Amy Schumer, Scooter Braun, Sidney Sweeney, Liam Neeson, Keke Palmer, Whoopi Goldberg, Jeremy Strong, Jadakiss, Adam Sandler, Chris. Rock – the list goes on.
After a truly pathetic opening half, the Knicks had to give every MSG lineup something to cheer about. They did it, step by step, which was the only way to overcome this deficit. Although the Knicks began to pull back, the lead remained 20 points at the start of the fourth quarter. New York’s bench, the same bench that former coach Tom Thibodeau ignored for years, provided a spark once again. Sure, Jalen Brunson was good, but his backup Jose Alvarado was even better. Although he led all scorers with 36 points, Brunson’s biggest contribution that night may have been his final shot, which was a miss. With a handful of seconds remaining, one second down, Anunoby passed the ball to Brunson, who may have pulled the trigger too early (and too deep). It was a good thing he did, because it gave Anunoby enough time to relentlessly storm the paint and deliver the miracle tip that would win the game and set New York City on fire — literally, in parts.
The Knicks, who now led three games to one, took the lead in Game 4 just in the final 1.2 seconds — but they were the most important 1.2 seconds of the game. game series Playoffs Franchise history.
Go to New York, go to New York, go! No, seriously, now go to San Antonio and get the Larry O’Brien Trophy. 6 Tips Game Saturday night at 8:30pm ET on ABC.
