Karl-Anthony Towns had a great view of one of the greatest offensive rebounds in NBA Finals history. Towns was fighting for position under the basket when “the right hand of God” miraculously saved the day.
With the San Antonio Spurs holding a one-point lead with 5.7 seconds left in the game, Jalen Brunson took an inbounds pass from OG Anunoby and launched a long 3-point shot over Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox that bounced off the front of the rim. Seeing his man leaving him to double Brunson, Anunoby came flying in the paint and timed his putback perfectly. His tip-in with 1.2 seconds left lifted the Knicks to a 107-106 victory and a 3-1 lead in the series.
“I inbounded the ball to Jalen [Brunson]. He got a pretty good look. I just went in and crashed,” Anunoby said of one of the most iconic plays in New York sports history.
A euphoric crown inside Madison Square Garden — with ticket prices averaging around a staggering $7,200 — sang along to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” a few minutes after watching something that seemed almost impossible. The Knicks were down by as much as 29 points in the third quarter and down 20 with under 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. It was the largest comeback in NBA Finals history.
“Shout-out to our fans. They stuck with us,” Towns said. “We found a way to get it done.”
Towns gave OG a big bear hug after his tip-in. After the Knicks made one final spot on the Spurs’ last possession, Towns let all his emotions out after the buzzer sounded.
“We gave ourselves a chance,” Towns said. “Sometimes you get lucky. We made our luck today.”
The Knicks may have been lucky to win the game, but luck had little to do with Anunoby’s hustle. Prior to his game-winning putback, Anunoby made the game-saving play with 12 seconds left.
After Brunson missed floater while being contested by Wembanyama, the rebound carooms off Dylan Harper and Josh Hart and Towns slaps the ball so hard that it went into the Knicks backcourt where Fox ran it down.
Fox could have just ran out the clock or get fouled. But Fox inexplicably went for a layup and his attempt got rejected by Anunoby.
Jose Alvarado grabbed the loose ball and the Knicks called time-out, setting up one of the craziest sequences you’ll ever see.
“I fell on the floor. I couldn’t really see. I don’t know. I just saw the block,” Wembanyama said on Fox’s decision to go for the layup instead of keeping the ball and running out the clock.
Wembanyama admitted the loss was a painful one to absorb, knowing how close the Spurs were in tying the series. “We stopped moving the ball,” Wemby said. “We stopped executing.”