{"id":1983823,"date":"2026-06-11T05:22:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T02:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1983823"},"modified":"2026-06-11T05:22:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T02:22:02","slug":"spurs-struggle-to-explain-game-4-collapse-we-gave-this-one-up-it-hurts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1983823","title":{"rendered":"Spurs struggle to explain Game 4 collapse: \u2018We gave this one up. It hurts\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NEW YORK \u2014 Once again, a great NBA team is left to explain the unexplainable after losing in a most unimaginable way.<\/p>\n

This time it\u2019s the San Antonio Spurs, who are now in the dubious position of owning the biggest in-game collapse in NBA Finals history, blowing a 29-point lead in the second half to lose Game 4 to the New York Knicks, 107-106<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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OG Anunoby\u2019s soaring putback with 1.2 seconds to go was the finishing touch on a slow-drip collapse that began when the Knicks started to cut into the Spurs\u2019 29-point advantage with 9:27 left in the third quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s going through my mind right now? I think it\u2019s going to go one of two ways. One of two ways. A bad one and a good one,\u201d Spurs star Victor Wembanyama said. \u201cThe bad one would be giving up. The good one would be getting stronger through this, getting more together. I know this is what we\u2019re going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hit me, but probably (I\u2019m in) shock,\u201d Spurs rookie Dylan Harper added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a game where you sit there and you say you had the type of personnel that you had, you shot the ball decent, played a pretty clean game,\u201d San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen kind of didn\u2019t finish the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Again, there isn\u2019t anything any single Spur, or analyst, or Texan could say about what transpired at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night and make it understandable.<\/p>\n

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The Spurs made a finals-record 14 3s in the first half, set a finals-record with a 19-point lead after one quarter by a road team, and led by 27 at halftime \u2014 nearly a record. And then they scored 30 points in the second half after scoring 76 in the first.<\/p>\n

The same sort of thing happened to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. Up 22 with 8 minutes to play, the Cavs\u2019 offense went cold and they let Jalen Brunson get scorching hot. The Knicks tied that game and won it going away in overtime. Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson had a dazed look and a maniacal laugh after that one; by the end of the series he was talking about the Cavs beating the Knicks on \u201canalytics\u201d even though New York was headed for a sweep.<\/p>\n

The Spurs didn\u2019t quite sound like they were cracking up, and they have a lot less time to recover from what happened at the Garden to save their season. But these are the kinds of losses that are tough to come back from anyway, and now San Antonio finds itself down in the finals, 3-1.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt hurts,\u201d Spurs\u2019 sixth man Keldon Johnson said. \u201cWe gave this one up. It hurts. I think it hurts everybody, from players to staff. We put a lot into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson added, \u201cIt\u2019s a tough pill to swallow,\u201d and \u201cI feel like we got comfortable and things happened.\u201d The Spurs shot 8-of-39 from the field and 3-of-17 on 3s in the second half.<\/p>\n

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What You Should Read Next<\/div>\n
\n \"Knicks<\/p>\n
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\n Knicks stage historic Game 4 comeback against Spurs, 1 win away from title\n <\/div>\n
\n The Spurs had a 29-point second-half lead. By the final buzzer, the Knicks had erased it to go up 3-1 in the NBA Finals.\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Wembanyama shot 2-of-9 in the fourth quarter. He missed two free throws with 1:47 left and San Antonio still up by a point.<\/p>\n

De\u2019Aaron Fox had a chance to either dribble out the clock or get fouled and maybe put the Spurs up by three inside of 10 seconds to go, but instead drove in for a layup that was blocked by Anunoby.<\/p>\n

And then no one boxed Anunoby out as he crashed the rim to corral Brunson\u2019s miss.<\/p>\n

\u201cBounce off the rim the right way. He tipped it in the right way. It went in,\u201d said Harper, who was closest to Anunoby on the final play. \u201cI could play \u2018wish I could have did this, wish I could have did that.\u2019 But at the end of the day, he tipped the ball, and it went in the rim.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely thought I had a hand on it. I definitely think I helped put the ball in the rim. But just got to box out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitch Johnson said he told the Spurs to let the loss hurt Wednesday night, but to flush it on Thursday as they begin to prepare for Game 5. He also said the Spurs \u201chave dictated the outcome\u201d of each game \u2014 which means he\u2019s pinning their 3-1 deficit on mistakes they\u2019ve made.<\/p>\n

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Wembanyama said the path forward would be found through \u201cholding each other accountable. Communicating. Not pointing fingers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd after that, we either got it or we don\u2019t,\u201d said Wemby, who led the Spurs with 24 points and 13 rebounds.<\/p>\n

Harper and Keldon Johnson spoke about a strong belief that remains on the Spurs\u2019 side.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main thing is that belief is there,\u201d Keldon Johnson said. \u201cWe believe. Our belief is as high as ever. You don\u2019t get here without belief, without faith in each other, and that\u2019s not going to change now. If it was easy, everybody would do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It sounds nice, but what are any of them supposed to say? The Spurs simply couldn\u2019t lose that game, and they did.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014 Once again, a great NBA team is left to explain the unexplainable after losing in a most unimaginable way. This time it\u2019s the San Antonio Spurs, who are now in the dubious position of owning the biggest in-game collapse in NBA Finals history, blowing a 29-point lead in the second half to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1983823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1983823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1983823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1983823\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1983823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1983823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1983823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}