The New York Knicks haven’t won an NBA championship since 1973. For 53 years, that drought has defined the franchise – and on Wednesday night, June 11, they drew within one victory of ending it.
New York beat the San Antonio Spurs 107-106 to take a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals, completing a comeback from 29 points down. That deficit, if confirmed as a Finals record, would rank among the most improbable turnarounds in league history. The Knicks trailed by that margin during the game before stringing together enough stops and scores to pull ahead and hold on.
The comeback
A 29-point hole in an NBA Finals game isn’t a bad night. It’s a collapse waiting to happen – for the team doing the trailing. San Antonio led by that margin at some point Wednesday and couldn’t protect it. New York forced the issue quarter by quarter and eventually took the lead late, winning by a single point.
The final score – 107-106 — tells you how close San Antonio came to surviving. One more stop, one more make, and the series would be tied 2-2 heading to a fifth game with momentum squarely on the Spurs’ side. Instead, the Knicks head into Game 5 needing just one win to close it out.
New York last won the title in 1973, a run that now sits more than half a century in the past. The Knicks have reached the Finals since but haven’t claimed a championship. This is their shot.
San Antonio, meanwhile, needs to win three straight to repeat what would be its own piece of NBA history. No team has ever come back from a 3-1 deficit in the Finals — though teams have done it in earlier rounds. Game 5 has not yet been scheduled publicly, and neither team has commented on the comeback through the NPR report.
Reported by NPR. Read the original report.
