OG Anunoby tipped in the winner with 1.2 seconds left in Game 4, and the New York Knicks beat the Spurs 107-106 to move one victory from the Larry O'Brien Trophy. The shot completed a comeback from 29 points down and flipped a game that the Spurs had been expected to close out.
Anunoby finished with 33 points and seven three-pointers, then called the moment probably the top of British basketball history. Mike Brown went even further, calling the play the most iconic shot in the history of New York basketball. For the Knicks, it was the kind of finish that turns one game into part of a franchise memory.
Game 4 also carried the kind of numbers that explain why it landed so hard. Statisticians had given the Spurs about a 99.7 per cent chance of winning, and San Antonio had built double-digit leads in all four games. Yet the Knicks kept coming, and the final tip-in turned a near certain loss into a 3-1 series lead.
That lead matters because the series now shifts to Game 5 on Saturday night in San Antonio, where the Knicks can clinch the championship against Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs. They already won both games there to open the series, and another victory would end it. The opening at the end of Game 4 was not just a late basket; it was the moment the series stopped looking like a battle and started looking like a finish.
For Anunoby, the finish carried a wider meaning. He said it was amazing for Britain and the UK, and for everyone there who loves basketball. His comments came in a season when a record four UK players were on NBA rosters, a sign of how far the game has spread back home. Basketball is now the fastest-growing sport in the UK and the second-most popular team sport behind football, according to Sport England, and Anunoby said more youth courts, more camps and more awareness could help it grow further.
That is why this night will travel beyond New York and San Antonio. The Knicks are one win from the title, and Anunoby’s tip-in has already become the moment that could define both the series and the next chapter for British basketball.
