NEW YORK — The sequence of events that led to OG Anunoby’s game-winning, Madison Square Garden-shaking, NBA Finals-turning tip-in was preceded by a raft of incoherence.
Dylan Harper pointed around and looked back at the San Antonio Spurs’ bench, seeking direction. Victor Wembanyama stretched his go-go-gadget arms out wide, wondering what more guidance he needed, before rushing over to push Harper away from the 3-point line to guard another New York Knicks player at half court. No one guarded Anunoby as he inbounded the ball with 5.7 seconds left, and no Spurs player even looked at him until he flew over all of them for one of the most important shots in NBA history. He won Game 4, and maybe an NBA title, with his fingertips. Sometimes that’s all it takes.
The Spurs are down 3-1 in the finals after one of the most devastating losses in the league’s history. How else to describe a collapse that left nothing but broken psyches in its wake? The Spurs were up 29 points with 9:40 remaining in Wednesday’s third quarter after De’Aaron Fox nailed an elbow jumper, and they did not score again for the next 5 minutes and 5 seconds. It took an unfathomable loss to flip a series that seemed to be trending their way at halftime.
The Spurs head home with regret for Saturday’s Game 5. It is a place no franchise wants to be.
But they also are in an enviable spot for a team so young. This series has clarified how good they are, how good they can be and what else they still need to win it all. It is a luxury, in some ways.
The talent oozes from the Spurs. Wembanyama is the eighth wonder of the world. Stephon Castle, 21, has been a two-way glue guy during this playoff run. Harper, 20, is a precocious guard who has the look of a future All-NBA team staple. Fox, 28, is already an All-Star point guard.
And yet, they too often fall apart on themselves. They have held double-digit leads in every game this series and have won just one. They are too often prone to mistakes borne of carelessness and inattention. Their talent has allowed them to take over games, but their overreliance on it has cost them. The Knicks have walked the Spurs down with a cunning San Antonio has lacked so far.
“We feel like we’ve decided the outcome of all four games,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said late Wednesday night.
It was a double-edged observation. The Spurs have lacked the finishing touches of champions.
Wembanyama’s push-ahead pass to Castle at the end of Game 2 was a tragedy; Fox’s cross-court pass to nowhere at the end of the third quarter Wednesday was a reprise. Twice this series, Castle has bailed out Knicks players stuck in the corners late in the shot clock by committing a shooting foul. Johnson has been slow to call timeouts to snuff out the runs that have powered Knicks comebacks. Fox’s infamous decision to charge ahead for a layup with less than 15 seconds left in Game 4, rather than pull back, had little upside even if it was successful.
The Spurs have overwhelmed the Knicks at times, bullying their way to the rim repeatedly for points in the paint and free throws. It has been their most undeniable skill, but they have also abandoned it too frequently. Their offense went cold in the second half Wednesday as they settled for jumpers and 3s early in the shot clock.
“We need to continue to put pressure on the rim and touch the paint and crash, because you don’t always make even the best 3-point looks,” Johnson said. “Missed some really good shots in the second half. You have to continue to be tough-minded enough to play the brand of basketball, regardless of the outcome or what the score is.”
Those moments stand in contrast to all the ways the Knicks have been able to gnash their way to the edge of a championship. They walked the Cleveland Cavaliers down from a 22-point lead in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, then topped it with a 29-point comeback in Game 4 of the finals.
These mistakes and meltdowns, painful as they are, show that the Spurs are just tweaks away from the mountaintop. The core that will guide them there is already in place and so young that it can last a while.
This offseason will be a consequential one. This series and playoff run have revealed some flaws. The Spurs, despite Fox’s presence, still need more playmakers. Harper should grow into a top-notch guard, but who will go alongside him? Can they add more shooting around Wembanyama and find the right long-term frontcourt partner for him?
Wembanyama has had moments of brilliance but also pockets of struggles. The Knicks have pushed him around at times and exposed his tendency to seek safety on the perimeter. He was largely ineffective in the second half of Game 4, missing 11 of 14 shots and looking gassed by the end. He is one more technical foul away from a suspension, a tricky place to be.
As are the Spurs. It was not that long ago that they were on the verge of heading to San Antonio with home-court advantage for the final three games of the finals. It seemed as if they had finally figured out the Knicks.
But that was just an apparition. The Spurs are now teetering on the edge of a stinging finals defeat if they cannot conjure up a comeback that surpasses the Knicks’ one in Game 4. The series should serve as a revelation and an edification for the Spurs. They’ve learned how close they are — and how much further they must go to win an NBA title.
Not all teams this young and talented get to find out.
