Nothing is impossible

It would’ve been the easy thing to do for New York to just surrender and preserve legs for the next outing on the road after San Antonio opened a 29-point lead, 81-52, in the third quarter of Game 4 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden yesterday morning (Manila time). But the hometown crowd never gave up, cheering the Knicks’ every basket, every stop, every move. The sixth man kept New York’s hopes alive.

The Spurs looked unstoppable in the first half, scoring 41 in the opening quarter and 35 in the second period. They hit 14 triples by halftime with Devin Vassell knocking down 4-of-4. Victor Wembanyama had 16 points, 13 in the first quarter when he went to “town” with Karl Anthony Towns sitting on the bench in early foul trouble. San Antonio fired 76 points at the half and New York, 49 so it didn’t look promising for the Knicks. Road teams had won the first three games of the Finals and the trend seemed on the way to continue. Then, the Spurs sputtered. New York’s defense toughened up and held San Antonio to 14 points in the third. Still, the Spurs were up 20 with 9:33 left. Little by little, New York clawed back. The Knicks had nothing to lose. A loss would’ve just tied the series anyway.

Refusing to quit, Jalen Brunson buried a three to cut the gap to one with 2:21 left and Josh Hart would’ve given New York its first lead but muffed a breakaway layup, time down to 1:57. Wemby could’ve widened the Spurs’ thinning lead and uncharacteristically, missed two free throws. Brunson scored to finally put New York on the driver’s seat, 105-104, with 1:22 to go then Stephon Castle converted two foul shots as the Spurs regained the lead. Brunson missed a two-pointer and De’Aaron Fox grabbed the rebound with 13.5 ticks left. Fox could’ve dribbled out the time and forced the Knicks to foul but instead, drove in and was blocked. Possession went back to New York and with 5.7 seconds left, the Knicks inbounded only for Brunson to miss a triple but OG Anunoby scored on a put-back for the final count, 107-106. Wemby extended to defend Brunson, leaving the lane open for OG to follow up. It was the second one-point win by New York in the series.

The Spurs’ youth and lack of experience showed in the second half where they only scored 30 points, eight from Wemby. They got complacent, crumbled under pressure and folded up. Note that Wemby’s only 22, Castle 21 and Dylan Harper, 19. In contrast, Brunson is 29, Towns 30, Hart 30 and Anunoby 28. Game 5 will be back in San Antonio on Sunday morning (Manila time) with the Knicks geared for a closer, leaning on an 8-1 road record in the Finals.