The San Antonio Spurs had the New York Knicks dead to rights with a 27 point lead, but failed to close the show and have fallen into a 3-1 hole in the Finals. This is now the biggest comeback in Finals history, surpassing the Boston Celtics’ 24-point comeback against the Los Angeles Lakers in 2008. The offense loosing its force doomed them and they suffered one of the worst fourth-quarter collapses in Finals history. The series shifts back to San Antonio and they will attempt to do what only the Cleveland
Cavaliers did in 2016.
Part of the problem was the team got satisfied with their work while the Knicks remained desperate and they were too late to prevent a tsunami when trying to flip the switch. Victor Wembanyama (24 points on 36 percent shooting) went berserk in the first quarter, but laid a stack of bricks the rest of the game, which included missing a pair of big freebies with fewer than two minutes left. The rest of the team folded in key moments as well.
Observations
- The offense was forced to take too many jumpers late in the game as New York’s pressure tightened up. For a while, the team was playing tight and everyone seemed reluctant to take the big shot, until De’Aaron Fox hit one, but folded on the next one. It appeared they were going to be bailed out by Stephon Castle’s late freebies, but Fox took a quick shot on the break instead of holding the ball when the Spurs were up. OG Anunoby hit the game-winning tip-in on the next possession.
- The defense was a bit exuberant, allowing too many free throws, but the Knicks were working extra hard to find shots in the half court, yet they eventually resorted to Brunson and OG Anunoby or bust. That ended up working and tore up the Spurs in the second half.
- Devin Vassell’s 3-point shooting injected life into the Spurs and was contagious because the others followed his lead. Eighteen of the team’s first 32 points came from 3-pointers, and this had the Knicks shaky until halftime. Additionally, the Spurs logged 14 first-half treys, which is the most in their playoff run. They then shot 18.8 percent from deep in the second half.
- Wembanyama went at Towns when he picked up his second foul in 62 seconds, and even baited Robinson into elbowing him in the jaw, causing a flagrant one; it had a big swing late in the first quarter and helped them take their biggest lead of the series (21) to that point. The Knicks coverages were later a factor in slowing Wemby down, but he also played tight the rest of the way.
- Naturally, quality teams at home in the playoffs come out thundering at halftime when facing a large deficit. A rough third quarter followed as the Spurs gave up a 10-5 run by the first substitution and it got worse from there. They committed five turnovers, shot 20 percent in the period and at one point had made only three field goals after nine minutes. The Spurs played the second half in the mud and missed many open shots.
- The Spurs’ bench outscored New York’s by 16, and Dylan Harper deserves most of the credit for that. He was too fast for whoever was in front of him, and he nailed baskets in big moments when they team need a boost. He had one of the great performances by a youngster this late in the playoffs that will be forgotten because of the loss.
