There is a decent chance the number 29 is going to be a featured player in some tattoos for New York Knicks fans after Wednesday.
That was the number their team had to overcome in Game 4 against the San Antonio Spurs. Two minutes and 20 seconds into the third quarter, the Spurs took an 81-52 lead against the Knicks. To lose, they would have needed to top the NBA Finals record for a blown lead — 24 points by the Boston Celtics against the Los Angeles Lakers — by five points in order to lose that game.
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We now know they did that, in spectacular fashion. Instead of the series being tied 2-2, the Knicks hold a 3-1 lead and a euphoric amount of momentum going into Game 5. Even if San Antonio posts a home win, they have to go back to Madison Square Garden for another elimination game.
So yeah, 29 points is going to remembered for a while, if not memorialized by the Knicks in perpetuity. There were other significant numbers in Game 4 though, so let’s break down just how incredible this was for New York, and how regrettable it was for San Antonio.
14
The number of first-half 3-pointers the Spurs scored. That’s the most first-half 3-pointers a team has scored in the history of the Finals, and San Antonio did it on 14-of-26 shooting. It then went 3-of-17 in the second half.
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12
All four Finals games so far have seen the Spurs go up by at least 12 points in the first quarter against the Knicks. They have lost three of those games.
5-750
The record by NBA teams down by 20 or more points in the fourth quarter of a playoff game over the past 30 years. This year’s Knicks team represents two of those wins, joining a similarly bonkers comeback against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
1-of-8
Victor Wembanyama’s shooting at the rim in the second half. He is 7-foot-4. He shot 3-of-14 overall in the second half, while the Spurs shot an unbelievably bad 8-of-39.
13
Seconds left De’Aaron Fox got the ball with the Spurs leading by a point. The veteran guard could have dribbled away and forced the Knicks to foul him. He could have called timeout and given his team a chance to reset. He opted to go for a lay-up with OG Anunoby breathing down his neck.
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It did not work out.
5-3
The Knicks record when trailing by at least 20 points in the last two postseasons. The rest of the NBA is 4-71.
+12
Dylan Harper’s plus/minus, easily the best on the team. Somehow, it was the 20-year-old rookie who kept his composure as everything fell apart for San Antonio.
46
The difference in scoring for the Spurs between halves. Per Elias Sports Bureau, that’s tied for the largest half-to-half decrease in 70 years of NBA playoff basketball.
3
The number of game-winning shots while trailing in the final five seconds of the NBA Finals. With his tip-in winner, OG Anunoby joins Michael Jordan in 1998 and Tyrese Haliburton last year.
9,852
Days since the Knicks’ last Finals win at Madison Square Garden, in the 1999 Finals against the Spurs. This one was worth the wait.
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