The San Antonio Spurs seemed to be cruising through Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Mitch Johnson's club saw its lead grow as big as 29 points in the second quarter before things all started to fall apart.
In the end, OG Anunoby's incredible putback was the final twist of the knife in the greatest collapse in the history of the NBA Finals. The Knicks escaped with an improbable 107-106 win in Game 4 to take a 3-1 lead in the series.
After the game, Johnson talked about what led to the historic meltdown.
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson after San Antonio’s Game 4 collapse: “We got away from playing the brand of basketball that got us the lead, and you saw at times the aggressiveness and just the conviction that we played with early on dissipate a little bit. … We just needed a few… pic.twitter.com/GcBMRXCfIq
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“We got away from playing the brand of basketball that got us the lead, and you saw at times the aggressiveness and just the conviction that we played with early on dissipate a little bit,” Johnson said. “That's when you felt the momentum a little bit. We just needed a few more tough-minded plays to finish the job.”
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The Spurs seemed to have everything under control and a 2-2 series in the bag heading back to San Antonio, but this collapse will make it very difficult to win the NBA title this year. Not only do the Spurs have to now win three games in a row against a very good Knicks team, they have to mentally recover from what was a sure thing with two quarters to go.
The collapse started and happened in many places: shot selection, defensive lapses, foul trouble, and so on and so forth. But the end of the meltdown is what will stick with Spurs fans and what will be talked about coming out of this game.
San Antonio seemed to have settled itself late in the fourth quarter when Stephon Castle hit a pair of free throws with 30 seconds remaining to give it a one-point lead. When Jalen Brunson missed a floater for the lead and De'Aaron Fox got the rebound, the Spurs looked likely to escape with the win.
But Fox inexplicably went for a layup and was blocked, setting up Anunoby's heroic putback. The rest is history, and now the Spurs have a Mt. Everest-sized summit to climb.
The San Antonio Spurs seemed to be cruising through Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Mitch Johnson's club saw its lead grow as big as 29 points in the second quarter before things all started to fall apart. In the end, OG Anunoby's incredible putback was the final twist of the knife in the greatest collapse in the history of the NBA Finals.