NBA Finals Game 4: Anatomy of Knicks' comeback, Spurs' collapse - ESPN

The 2026 NBA Finals were highly entertaining through three games. But they weren't historic. Not yet.

That changed in Game 4.

The New York Knicks fell behind the San Antonio Spurs by 29 points Wednesday before completing the largest comeback in Finals history and emerging with a 107-106 victory. Madison Square Garden had never hosted anything quite like this before. NBA fans had never seen anything quite like this before. There had never, in the sport's history, been anything quite like this before.

The Knicks are now just one win away from their first title in 53 years, buoyed by belief and indescribable momentum after an extraordinarily improbable win. They'll have the chance to clinch the championship in San Antonio on Saturday (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN App).

But first, let's break down Game 4 in all its glory, exploring how the Knicks came back and, alternatively, how the Spurs collapsed.

Quick links:
Reaction: Game 3 | Game 2 | Game 1
Takeaways | Schedule | Bracket | Playoffs

Here are some strange things that happened in the first half of Game 4:

Karl-Anthony Towns picked up two fouls just 62 seconds in.

Ariel Hukporti and Jeremy Sochan made their Finals debuts.

The Spurs made more 3-pointers than the Knicks attempted.

Victor Wembanyama was plus-28 in 21 minutes.

The result was a historic start for the Spurs: Their 19-point lead after the first quarter was the largest for any road team in Finals history, per ESPN Research, and so was their 27-point lead at halftime.

But the indefatigable Knicks, who had already overcome double-digit deficits in the first three games of these Finals, who'd overcome a 22-point fourth-quarter deficit against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the conference finals and who'd overcome