The Hand of OG
The largest comeback in NBA Finals history, reconstructed one possession at a time.
The Hand of OG
Five games, three of them decided by four points or fewer, one of them the largest comeback in Finals history. The fourth meeting of the season with San Antonio, and the last.
- Game 1 · San Antonio105–95 WThirty from the captain Official highlights
- Game 2 · San Antonio105–104 WThe trade pays Official highlights
- Game 3 · The Garden111–115 LThe streak dies at 13 Official highlights
- Game 4 · The Garden107–106 WDown 29 Official highlights
- Game 5 · San Antonio94–90 WForty-five Official highlights
Stealing home court, twice
Brunson opened the series with 30 points, thirteen of them in the fourth quarter, and New York won Game 1 by ten. Two nights later the margin was one. Bridges finished with 20 points, six rebounds, six assists, and four threes in a 105–104 escape: the quiet nights, the relitigated trade, all of it answered in the loudest possible setting.
New York flew home up 2–0, fourteen playoff wins in a row.
Spurs room “I was bad tonight”: Wembanyama after Game 1 ↗
The streak dies at 13
Madison Square Garden hosted its first Finals game since 1999 and watched San Antonio take it, 115–111. The 13-game playoff winning streak was over. So was the series' politeness: Wembanyama shoved Brunson, both podiums got asked about it, and the two best players in the series were suddenly in each other's way.
A 2–1 series with an edge to it came back to the Garden for Game 4.
Knicks room Brunson on the shove and the Game 3 loss ↗Spurs room Wembanyama and the Spurs after the Game 3 win ↗
- Third quarter
San Antonio leads 81–52. Twenty-nine points. The Garden is quiet.
- 4:32 remaining
Possession by possession, the deficit is down to four. The Garden is loud again.
- 1:47
Wembanyama to the line for two, San Antonio up one. He misses both. The door stays open.
Both free throws miss · broadcast capture - First lead
Brunson, left-handed floater. The Knicks lead 105–104, their first lead of the night.
- Answer
San Antonio retakes it, 106–105. The comeback is one possession from meaning nothing.
- The block
Anunoby meets De'Aaron Fox at the rim and wins the possession outright.
The moment after the block · broadcast capture - 5.7 seconds
New York inbounds. Everyone in the arena knows where the ball is going.
- The miss
Brunson misses.
2.0 on the clock, the floater up · broadcast capture - 1.2 seconds
Anunoby tips it in. 107–106.
The miss, the tip, the net · broadcast capture
The championship's signature play is a miss. Brunson's floater comes off the rim, and Anunoby is already in the air.
“The Spurs know how to TAKE the lead, they just don't know how to HOLD the lead. And that's really the most important part of the lead: the holding.”
The possession sequence above is an editorial reconstruction. The NBA's full Game 4 highlight package is the primary source for it.
- PublisherNBA
- GameFinals · 4
- Runtime18:40
Forty-five,
on the road
San Antonio led by 16 and the building believed. Then Brunson started scoring and did not stop: 45 points, the last of them with the trophy already in the corridor. 94–90.
The loop beside this text is the team's own cut of the fourth quarter, down 77–83 with 6:33 left, tied at 88 with a minute to play. The clock did the rest.
Champions Brunson, Towns, and the Knicks after winning it all ↗What zero on the clock meant →