One Win Away: Can the Knicks Finally End 53 Years of Heartbreak, or Will the Spurs Pull Off the Impossible in Game 5?
The New York Knicks are one win away from their first NBA championship since 1973 after pulling off the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history. Down 29 points in Game 4, Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby dragged New York back from the dead in front of a sold-out Madison Square Garden. Now the Knicks head to San Antonio for Game 5 with a 3-1 series lead. Can they close it out, or will Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs force a Game 6? Full preview, key matchups, and our prediction inside.
Fahad
6/11/20267 min read
ONE WIN FROM GLORY — CAN THE KNICKS MAKE HISTORY OR DO THE SPURS STILL HAVE A CHANCE?
*2026 NBA Finals · Game 5 Preview · June 13, 2026*
**Game 5 | New York Knicks 3 – 1 San Antonio Spurs**
📅 Saturday, June 13, 2026 | ⏰ 8:30 PM ET | 📺 ABC / fubo | 🏟️ Frost Bank Center, San Antonio, TX
Let's be honest — nobody expected this. When the 2026 NBA Finals began on June 3, the San Antonio Spurs were the favorites. They had Victor Wembanyama. They had the best record in the league. They were the story of the season. The New York Knicks? They came in with +2200 title odds when the playoffs started back in April, a number that looked generous to most.
Fast forward to right now, and the Knicks are one win away from their first championship since 1973. They've turned this entire postseason on its head, and Game 4 at Madison Square Garden might have been the most jaw-dropping night in franchise history. With Game 5 set for Saturday night in San Antonio, the question isn't just whether New York can close it out — it's whether the Spurs can summon anything from the wreckage of Wednesday night to keep their season alive.
**WHAT HAPPENED IN GAME 4? A QUICK REMINDER**
If you somehow missed it, here's the short version: the Spurs were up 29 points. It looked like a beatdown. The kind of game where you switch the channel and check back in tomorrow. Wembanyama got booed walking into MSG, the Knicks went down by as many as 27 at halftime, and San Antonio looked like they were about to even up the series on New York's own floor.
And then — something shifted. Jalen Brunson refused to quit. OG Anunoby refused to quit. Madison Square Garden refused to sit down. Point by point, the Knicks clawed their way back, eventually turning what looked like a blowout loss into a 107-106 victory that will be talked about for decades. Brunson finished with 36 points. Anunoby had 33, but it was his final play that sent New York into delirium — a soaring tip-in of Brunson's missed three-pointer with just 1.2 seconds left. It's the largest comeback in NBA Finals history, full stop.
"I don't know if there was a play bigger than any other play in the history of Knicks basketball."
— Knicks Coach Mike Brown, after Game 4
**Key Numbers from Game 4:**
- 29 — Points down, largest comeback in Finals history ever
- 36 — Jalen Brunson points in Game 4
- 33 — OG Anunoby points, career playoff high
- 53 — Years since the Knicks last won a title
**THE KNICKS' ROAD TO THIS MOMENT**
To appreciate what Saturday night means, you have to understand how the Knicks even got here. New York came into this postseason without a single first-round bye and without being anyone's favorite to win it all. They trailed Atlanta 2-1 in the first round before winning three straight. Then they swept the Philadelphia 76ers. Then they swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals. Then they took the first two games of the NBA Finals on the road in San Antonio.
That's 13 consecutive wins at one point — a streak that stretched over 46 days. They've done it without a traditional superstar in the conventional sense, built around an undrafted-in-the-lottery point guard who simply will not let his team lose. Jalen Brunson has become the soul of New York basketball, the kind of player this city has been waiting for since they chased every superstar in the league and came up empty for years on end.
Karl-Anthony Towns, the big trade gamble from before last season, has been the offensive engine the Knicks needed — his court vision and spacing giving New York a league-best 123.3 offensive rating in the playoffs. OG Anunoby has emerged as the two-way weapon they always hoped he could be. And Josh Hart has been doing the dirty work that doesn't always show up in the box score but absolutely shows up in the results.
**²
Here's where it gets real for San Antonio. The Spurs didn't just lose Game 4 — they lost it in a way that leaves psychological scars. You don't blow a 29-point lead in the NBA Finals and simply move on. That's not how sports work. The questions will follow this team into warmups on Saturday, into the locker room during halftime, into every timeout where someone on the floor starts doing the math and remembering what happened on Wednesday.
And yet — San Antonio has reason for hope, and pretending otherwise would be wrong. The Frost Bank Center is a genuine home-court advantage. The Spurs went 32-8 at home during the regular season. Wembanyama, who missed two critical free throws late in Game 4, will be hungry for redemption in front of his home crowd. And Stephon Castle, one of the most composed young players in the league, showed in Game 4 that he has the nerve for these moments. His two free throws with 30 seconds left briefly gave San Antonio a 106-105 lead before Anunoby's tip-in ripped it away.
The Spurs scored 76 first-half points in Game 4 on 59.6% shooting and hit 14 three-pointers in just the first half — a Finals record. Their offense is capable of putting up numbers that no defense can fully contain. The second half was a different story, with San Antonio managing just 30 points on 20.5% shooting, but that kind of collapse is not something this team does on a regular basis. Consider it an outlier, and the Spurs become dangerous again.
**KEY MATCHUP #1: BRUNSON VS CASTLE**
Jalen Brunson — 26.0 PPG, 6.8 APG this series, Finals MVP favorite
vs.
Stephon Castle — primary Brunson defender, showed clutch nerve in Game 4
Castle is San Antonio's best hope of slowing Brunson down. If he can disrupt New York's offensive rhythm early, the Spurs have a chance. If Brunson gets going, this series might be over in three hours.
**KEY MATCHUP #2: WEMBANYAMA VS TOWNS**
Victor Wembanyama — 25.0 PPG, 11.5 RPG this series, 2026 Defensive Player of the Year
vs.
Karl-Anthony Towns — 11.9 RPG, floor spacing maestro, 4.6pt offensive rating boost in playoffs
Wemby did things in Games 1 and 2 that most big men simply cannot do — but the Knicks found ways to limit him. On his home floor, with his crowd behind him and something to prove, this could be a very different night.
**WHY GAME 5 ON THE ROAD IS NOTHING NEW FOR NEW YORK**
Here's the thing the Spurs need to remember: the Knicks have already won twice in San Antonio this series. Games 1 and 2 both went New York's way on Spurs home court. This team doesn't shrink on the road. They came into this city as underdogs and left with a 2-0 lead. Road court means something, but it doesn't mean everything — especially for a Knicks team that has won 13 consecutive playoff games with this kind of resilience baked into their DNA.
There's also the confidence factor. After coming back from 29 down in Game 4, this team genuinely believes they cannot lose. Coach Mike Brown said it plainly: if they find themselves in a big hole again, they'll just keep fighting. That kind of conviction doesn't evaporate on a plane ride to Texas.
**WHAT THE SPURS NEED TO DO TO STAY ALIVE**
San Antonio can't let this become an emotional game. The worst thing the Spurs can do is come out fired up, play with desperation, and allow their instincts to abandon the disciplined defensive principles that got them here in the first place. They need to be ruthless, not emotional.
Wembanyama needs a dominant first quarter. He needs to set the tone early, remind New York that they're playing in his building now, and give the Spurs' crowd a reason to be loud from the opening tip. De'Aaron Fox — who attempted a transition layup late in Game 4 when he probably should have run out the clock, only to get blocked by Anunoby — needs to trust his game and not try to do too much. And San Antonio's bench needs to contribute in a way that they simply didn't in the second half of Game 4.
The other thing the Spurs desperately need is to avoid free throw trouble. Two missed free throws from Wembanyama at a critical moment helped hand New York the game. Every single possession in a one-point game matters.
**THE HISTORY ON THE LINE SATURDAY NIGHT**
This series carries enormous historical weight on both sides. For New York, a win ends a 53-year championship drought that has defined generations of Knicks fans. It would validate the franchise's decision to build around Brunson — the second-round pick who became the King of New York. If Brunson closes this out, he becomes one of the rare small guards to win a title as his team's undisputed best player, rewriting the blueprint for how a championship team can be constructed.
For San Antonio, a win would mean doing something equally extraordinary — becoming the first team in recent memory to rally from 3-1 down in the NBA Finals. That has only been done once in the entire history of the league. The Spurs would also be breaking the mold by winning a championship with one of the youngest cores in Finals history, a group that did so with almost no prior playoff experience heading into this postseason.
Either way, this Finals will make history. But only one team gets to write the ending they want.
**GAME 5 PREDICTION**
The Spurs will be motivated, rested, and at home in front of a crowd that desperately needs something to cheer about after Wednesday night. Wembanyama will not go quietly. Expect him to have one of his best performances of the series. San Antonio will bring enormous intensity, and there's a real chance they win this game and extend the series.
That said — the Knicks are a different team than the one that fell into that 29-point hole in Game 4. They found something in that second half. The trust they have in each other, the belief that no lead is insurmountable, and the way Brunson rises in moments like this all point toward New York finding a way.
This won't be comfortable. But the Knicks have shown all postseason that they don't need comfortable.
🗽 **Knicks win Game 5 — Prediction: New York closes it out Saturday night.**
**FINAL THOUGHTS**
Regardless of what happens on Saturday night in San Antonio, this NBA Finals has already delivered some of the most memorable basketball in decades. A historic comeback. Two brilliant players in Brunson and Wembanyama pushing each other to their limits. A franchise city waiting 53 years for a moment that may finally be within reach. And a young Spurs team that, win or lose, has announced itself to the basketball world as a force that is only going to get more dangerous with time.
Game 5 tips off at 8:30 PM ET on Saturday, June 13, live on ABC. Wherever you're watching from — don't look away.
*Tags: NBA Finals 2026 · New York Knicks · San Antonio Spurs · Jalen Brunson · Victor Wembanyama · OG Anunoby · NBA Playoffs · Game 5 Preview*