Knicks feel it’s too early to celebrate

SAN ANTONIO — The New York Knicks authored the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history to put themselves on the cusp of a title but say they can’t keep falling so far behind if they want to lift the trophy for the first time in more than 50 years.

“Obviously that game is a hardwood classic, something that the NBA has never seen before,” Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns said of New York’s rally from 29 points down to beat the San Antonio Spurs 107-106 in Game 4 of the best-of-seven series.

New York took a 3-1 stranglehold, but on the eve of Saturday’s Game 5 in San Antonio, Towns said the Knicks had little time to celebrate.

“Of course that night we all enjoyed the shell shock of what happened,” he said. “But we all understood the next morning that we had to get back to work, and we had to lock back in and get ready to find a way to win another one.”

“So while there is joy, there is also frustration that we even allowed ourselves to be in that kind of position, especially as much as the deficit was.”

With the embattled Spurs drawing confidence from the fact that they’ve held double-digit leads in every game, New York’s Josh Hart said it’s imperative that the Knicks snuff out San Antonio’s hopes early.

“We can’t keep getting into a hole and trying to dig ourselves out of a hole,” Hart said. “We were fortunate to do that last game – actually three of our wins. We’ve got to do a better job of starting games off.”