Key Takeaways
- OG Anunoby sealed it with a tip-in off a missed Jalen Brunson three-pointer with 1.2 seconds left, turning what looked like a Spurs statement into a Knicks earthquake.
- The NBA’s official Game 4 report confirmed that New York’s 29-point recovery was the largest comeback in NBA Finals history.
- The Spurs pushed the pace, attacked gaps, moved the ball with confidence, and looked like a young team ready to drag the Finals back into balance.
- The next game in San Antonio will reveal whether the Spurs still have the nerve to play aggressively with a lead, or whether Game 4 has left hesitation in their hands.
NEW YORK, United States, June 11, 2026: The New York Knicks did more than win Game 4 of the 2026 NBA Finals. They turned Madison Square Garden into a pressure chamber and forced the San Antonio Spurs to live through the kind of collapse that follows a team long after the final buzzer.
A 107-106 scoreline usually tells you the game was close. This one tells a much bigger story. The Sports Encounter’s NBA coverage reported that the Knicks erased a 29-point deficit, completed the largest comeback in NBA Finals history, and moved within one win of their first championship since 1973.
OG Anunoby sealed it with a tip-in off a missed Jalen Brunson three-pointer with 1.2 seconds left, turning what looked like a Spurs statement into a Knicks earthquake.
Story at a glance
The Spurs Had the Game, Then Started Playing the Score
San Antonio did almost everything right early.
The Knicks Won This Game Before the Final Tip-In
Anunoby’s final touch will live on highlight reels, but the comeback was built much earlier.
Wembanyama Is Now Facing His First Finals Scars
This series is also becoming Wembanyama’s first real lesson in Finals psychology.
Why Game 4 May Have Decided the NBA Finals
A 3-1 Finals lead is heavy.
What Fans Should Watch in Game 5 of the NBA Finals 2026
The next game in San Antonio will reveal whether the Spurs still have the nerve to play aggressively with a lead, or whether Game 4 has left hesitation in their hands.
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The NBA’s official Game 4 report confirmed that New York’s 29-point recovery was the largest comeback in NBA Finals history.
This was not just a comeback.
It was a character audit.
The Spurs Had the Game, Then Started Playing the Score
San Antonio did almost everything right early.
The Spurs pushed the pace, attacked gaps, moved the ball with confidence, and looked like a young team ready to drag the Finals back into balance.
Victor Wembanyama controlled large stretches of the first half, finishing with 24 points, 13 rebounds, and three blocks.
Then the game changed.
New York stopped chasing perfection and started chasing possessions.
The Knicks got into bodies, forced rushed decisions, and made the Spurs feel every dribble. San Antonio’s lead became less of a cushion and more of a burden.
That is the strange thing about huge leads in championship games. They can make young teams freer, but they can also make them protective.
Once the Spurs began managing the margin instead of attacking the moment, the Knicks found their opening.
Wembanyama later pointed to poor execution as part of San Antonio’s collapse after the Spurs scored only 30 points in the second half.
ALSO READ: How the Knicks Took Control of the NBA Finals Before the Series Reached New York
The Knicks Won This Game Before the Final Tip-In
Anunoby’s final touch will live on highlight reels, but the comeback was built much earlier.
It came through second efforts, defensive pressure, and a crowd that refused to treat the game as finished.
Brunson led with 36 points and seven assists, while Anunoby produced a career playoff performance with 33 points and seven three-pointers.
That combination matters because New York did not win through one superstar rescue act.
Brunson kept the Knicks emotionally upright.
Anunoby gave them the shot-making burst.
The role players supplied the chaos.
Madison Square Garden supplied the noise.
The Knicks did what veteran playoff teams do. They made the game smaller.
They stopped worrying about 29 points and started winning one possession, then another, then another.
By the time San Antonio realized the lead had become fragile, the building already believed.
Wembanyama Is Now Facing His First Finals Scars
This series is also becoming Wembanyama’s first real lesson in Finals psychology.
He was brilliant in San Antonio’s Game 3 victory at Madison Square Garden, scoring 32 points with eight rebounds, six assists, and three blocks as the Spurs beat New York 115-111 and cut the series deficit to 2-1.
That performance showed how dangerous the Spurs could become when Wembanyama attacked closer to the rim, the ball moved cleanly and San Antonio avoided giving New York easy possessions.
Game 4 placed him in a completely different kind of spotlight.
He was booed heavily at Madison Square Garden following the tension surrounding the previous game, and the physical pressure carried directly into Game 4.
This is where the NBA Finals differ from ordinary playoff basketball.
Talent gets you here.
Emotional control keeps you alive.
Wembanyama remains one of basketball’s most difficult long-term problems for opposing teams. But in Game 4, New York made him operate inside noise, contact, pressure and consequence.
That is a brutal classroom for a young superstar, even one as gifted as him.
Why Game 4 May Have Decided the NBA Finals
A 3-1 Finals lead is heavy.
For the Knicks, it brings the city close to something it has waited more than five decades to see.
For the Spurs, it creates the hardest possible assignment: win three straight games after losing a Finals game they led by 29.
San Antonio had already experienced late-game pain in the opening two contests. The Knicks took both games in Texas before the Spurs finally answered in Game 3.
Game 4 was supposed to confirm that San Antonio had learned how to close.
Instead, it created an even deeper scar.
That kind of loss does not disappear overnight.
Coaches can talk about film, adjustments and next-game mentality, but players remember the moments.
Missed free throws.
Empty possessions.
Loose rebounds.
Defensive breakdowns.
The final tip-in.
San Antonio now has to recover twice.
First on the scoreboard.
Continue the NBA Story
Then in the mind.
New York, meanwhile, enters Game 5 with the rarest kind of momentum.
The Knicks do not simply believe they can beat the Spurs.
They now believe no deficit can bury them.
The official NBA Finals schedule and results shows New York carrying a 3-1 series advantage back to San Antonio for Game 5.
What Fans Should Watch in Game 5 of the NBA Finals 2026
The next game in San Antonio will reveal whether the Spurs still have the nerve to play aggressively with a lead, or whether Game 4 has left hesitation in their hands.
Three areas will define Game 5:
-
San Antonio’s fourth-quarter shot quality.
The Spurs cannot fall into late-clock isolation, rushed possessions and nervous perimeter passing when the pressure increases. -
Wembanyama’s response to pressure.
The Knicks will continue testing his patience with physical contact, crowded driving lanes and multiple defenders around the paint. -
New York’s role-player confidence.
Anunoby’s Game 4 performance changes the coverage map. San Antonio now has to treat him as a genuine Finals swing player rather than simply an elite defensive specialist.
NBA Finals Game 4 Quarter-by-Quarter Breakdown
The official NBA record shows how dramatically the game changed after halftime. San Antonio scored 76 points in the opening two quarters but managed only 30 in the second half.
| Quarter | San Antonio Spurs | New York Knicks | Quarter Winner | Momentum Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | 41 | 22 | Spurs | San Antonio exploded early and put New York under immediate pressure. |
| Q2 | 35 | 27 | Spurs | The Spurs stretched their control and entered halftime with a massive cushion. |
| Q3 | 14 | 26 | Knicks | New York changed the physical tone and brought Madison Square Garden back into the game. |
| Q4 | 16 | 32 | Knicks | The Knicks completed the historic comeback with a ruthless closing surge. |
| Final | 106 | 107 | Knicks | New York won by one point and took a 3-1 NBA Finals lead. |
Quarter-by-quarter scoreline:
Spurs: 41 | 35 | 14 | 16 | 106
Knicks: 22 | 27 | 26 | 32 | 107
Fans looking for the complete series context can also follow The Sports Encounter’s NBA Hub, which brings together TSE’s Finals coverage, team analysis and postseason reporting.
Final Word
Game 4 gave the Knicks a win.
More importantly, it gave them a championship identity.
They are not winning this series only because Brunson is fearless or because Madison Square Garden is loud.
They are winning because they can absorb punishment, stay connected and make opponents feel the clock closing in.
For the Spurs, this is where youth meets consequence.
They have the future’s most frightening player. They have enough talent to push New York again.
But the Finals do not wait for development curves.
The Knicks are one win away from history because they turned a lost game into a city-wide belief system.
And now the Spurs have to prove they can forget the night New York refused to die.
For official video, statistics and complete series coverage, visit the NBA’s 2026 Finals hub.
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