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.
"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 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 arm of 7-foot-4 Victor Wembanyama. When Captain Clutch's 3 ricocheted short, Anunoby beat everyone to the ball, 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 said, as if his life hadn't just changed. "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, Spurs rookie Dylan Harper's inbounds pass fell short to an open Stephon Castle, who fumbled the ball and failed 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.
"This game was crazy," said do-everything wing Josh Hart. "I've got a special shout-out for OG, man, because he saved me, at least for this game, a lifetime of regret."
Hart was right. What would have been had Anunoby's attempt rimmed out? The 30-point comeback would have been for naught. The series would have been tied, 2-2. All the momentum would have been on San Antonio's side. The series may have been lost.
And Hart would have been a goat. He missed a wide-open go-ahead layup inside of two minutes left, and he fouled Castle on San Antonio's go-ahead put-back attempt. Castle sank both free throws in the face of a deafening crowd, giving the Spurs a 106-105 lead.
And then the wildest ending in the wildest comeback of the wildest game in NBA history unfolded. Brunson, normally the hero, missed a five-foot floating jumper with 16 seconds left. The rebound was deflected into the backcourt, where Fox was the first to the ball. It looked like he had a clean lane to the basket for a layup that would have put the Spurs up, 108-105, only there was Anunoby, of course, tracking Fox for a clutch chase-down block.
"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."
Jose Alvarado nearly committed a backcourt violation on New York's ensuing possession, but Fox had a foul to give before he had the chance. The Knicks called a timeout, and everyone in the arena knew the ball was going to Brunson for a final shot.
But nobody saw Anuboby's put-back coming. It was as if his right hand were touched by that of God. It doesn't seem real. A man muttered to himself, "I don't even know how to process what I just saw," as he made his way out of the building to chants of "Knicks in 5."
Now, Anunoby — after 33 points (on a career-high seven 3-pointers, each more helpful than the next in a historic comeback) — is the hero, one for all time in New York City, especially if the Knicks deliver on the promise their two-way menace's put-back made.
