New York Knicks fans began their Thursday mornings standing on top of the basketball world after their beloved club erased a 29-point deficit en route to completing the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history.
The team earned a stunning 107-106 Game 4 win over the San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night. The Knicks now hold a 3-1 series lead and are on the cusp of winning the franchise’s first NBA title since 1973. Nevertheless, team captain Jalen Brunson did well to remind everybody following Wednesday’s thrilling contest that the Knicks haven’t achieved anything quite yet.
The Knicks have “nothing to celebrate” yet
“We got a lot to learn in these next couple of days, but our mentality has to be 0-0 – the way it’s been,” Brunson said, per Robert Sanchez of SNY. “It has to be that way, and I feel like us moving forward with that mindset could really benefit us. There’s nothing to celebrate because it’s not over yet. Not even close.”
Of course, the Knicks needed to make history on Wednesday because they were thoroughly outplayed in the game’s first half. New York big man Karl-Anthony Towns found himself in early foul trouble after he was on the wrong end of a pair of questionable calls in the game’s first two minutes. The hosts seemingly failed to recover from that setback, while the Spurs made the most three-pointers (14) in a first half in NBA Finals history and scored the most points (76) in the first half by a road team in NBA Finals history.
Brunson knows that he and his teammates can’t expect to rally back from a 27-point halftime deficit (76-49) against such a talented team again during the series.
“The most important thing for me over these next 48 hours is just focusing on what I can do to win Game 5,” Brunson added during his comments.
Jose Alvarado: Knicks won’t take victory laps after Wednesday night
Of course, one can only guess what might have happened on Wednesday had Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox burned some clock and forced the Knicks to commit a foul late in the game instead of curiously going for a layup that was blocked by eventual Knicks hero OG Anunoby. While Knicks guard Jose Alvarado was understandably fired up when he offered his on-the-court postgame comments, he later echoed Brunson’s take.
“We can get excited and enjoy this, but we got one more to do,” Alvarado said. “So that’s the main goal, the next game.”
That next game, which could become a closeout contest for the Knicks, will take place at San Antonio’s Frost Bank Center this coming Saturday night.