'Best two-way player in the NBA:' OG Anunoby saves Knicks with game-winning tip-in to complete historic comeback
· Yahoo Sports
NEW YORK — Before Game 4 of the 2026 NBA Finals, with his New York Knicks leading 2-1 but in danger of losing their grip on the series, head coach Mike Brown pulled aside his brutish forward, OG Anunoby, who to that point had not grabbed any offensive rebounds.
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"As big, as strong, as athletic as you are," Brown told the 6-foot-7, 240-pound Anunoby, weeks from his 29th birthday, "you've got to be a monster on the offensive glass tonight."
"Told me I need to get on the glass,” Anunoby explained, “offensive glass, especially, and just use my ability, size, strength, athleticism, to make an impact on the offensive glass.
"And it happened at the end."
Did it ever. Trailing 106-105 in Game 4 to the youthful San Antonio Spurs in the final seconds of a series-tilting contest, Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson fired a 3-pointer over De'Aaron Fox and the outstretched left arm of 7-foot-4 Victor Wembanyama. Only Captain Clutch's 3 sailed wide. But Anunoby was there to snatch it, tipping home a prayer of a put-back.
"I inbounded the ball to Jalen," said Anunoby, deadpan as ever (at least between smiles). "He got a pretty good look, and I just went and crashed."
He sliced through the entirety of San Antonio's stout defense.
"Tried to get a tip-dunk or something," he added. "The ball went over my head, so I couldn't really dunk it. So I tried to tip it in softly, and it went in."
The tip-in — one Brown called "the most iconic shot in the history of New York basketball" — gave the Knicks a 107-106 lead with 1.2 seconds remaining. It was bedlam in the Garden. A collective scream came from the crowd, arguably the loudest a building has ever been.
And then the world's most famous arena fell silent. There were 1.2 seconds left, after all.
"The game wasn't over," said Anunoby. "I looked up to see the time. If it would've been 0.0, I would have been more excited, but it was just 1.2 left. So just knowing: Get a stop now, just stay with it, staying present, not getting too happy because the game is not over yet."
Following a timeout, on the ensuing inbounds pass, Spurs rookie Dylan Harper threw his lob short to an open Stephon Castle, who fumbled an errant pass, failing to get a shot off. Bedlam again. Insanity. That roar is still ringing in our heads. Knicks win, 107-106, seizing a 3-1 lead in the Finals, pulling within a win of the franchise's first championship in 53 years.
"It feels cool," said Anunoby, delivering an understatement equal in magnitude to his game-winner, drawing a roomful of laughter. "Everyone's pretty excited. I'm excited, too."
Anunoby's miracle carom not only brought the Knicks within a victory of history, it made some of it, too, capping a 29-point comeback, the greatest the playoffs have ever seen.
"The building's already electric, but during a run like that, to see people like Fat Joe and all the others just enjoying themselves at a basketball game — just being human, jumping up and down, high-fiving, screaming — the vibe is just," said Brown, searching for the words we all have been to explain what we just saw, "it's hard to describe, and the energy in the crowd had a lot to do with our comeback, too. It was fantastic. Unbelievable."
Oh, and the tip-in gave Anunoby a playoff career-high 33 points on the evening, too.
"He gave us a chance to win," said Towns, who added 13 points, 10 rebounds and a pair of assists in the win, "and that's all you can ask for from the best two-way player in the NBA."