The New York Knicks arrive in San Antonio with a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals after a 107-106 victory over the Spurs in Game 4 on Wednesday, June 10, and one win away from their first championship in 53 years when Game 5 tips off Saturday night.
Wednesday’s finish was razor thin on the scoreboard and seismic in context: San Antonio blew a 29-point advantage, and the Spurs were outscored 55-25 over the final 21 1/2 minutes, turning what had been a comfortable lead into a one-point loss and the biggest collapse the Finals has seen.
The consequence is stark heading into Game 5. New York has already rallied in this series on the road—winning Games 1 and 2 in San Antonio after overcoming double-digit deficits—and now holds the familiar margin that often decides championships: a 3-1 edge. Of 38 teams that trailed 3-1 in the NBA Finals, 37 went on to lose the series; the only exception was Cleveland in 2016. If the Knicks close it out Saturday, they will claim the franchise’s first title in 53 years and become the first team since Houston in 1995 to win three games on the Spurs’ home floor in a single postseason series.
Both clubs used Thursday as a travel day. They are scheduled to practice in San Antonio on Friday, a final dress rehearsal before a game that will decide whether this series returns to New York or ends in Texas. New York’s guard Jalen Brunson framed the mood succinctly: the team must treat the series like a blank slate—“0-0”—and he stressed there is nothing to celebrate yet, that the Knicks must keep moving with that mentality to benefit them in the closing stretch.
San Antonio’s response to the collapse has been about unity rather than recrimination. Victor Wembanyama admitted the team now faces one of two paths—either surrender to the setback or use it to grow closer and stronger—and said he expects the Spurs to choose the latter. That statement underscores the central friction heading into Game 5: public resolve versus the near-impossible arithmetic of Finals history.
What will decide Saturday is straightforward basketball leverage: can the Spurs stop a second-half reversal that allowed New York’s run in Game 4, and can the Knicks deliver the kind of composed finishing that turned a 29-point deficit into a one-point victory? The specific stretch that collapsed in New York—the 21 1/2 minutes when San Antonio was outscored 55-25—is the sequence every coach will review this week. For the Spurs, Game 5 is the single necessary step to keep alive any hope of rewriting the rare 3-1 comeback script; for New York, it is the chance to finish what the late-series math has favored time and again.
Practices on Friday will be closely watched for any tactical adjustments; beyond that, the practical detail fans need is simple: Game 5 is Saturday night in San Antonio. The team that wins will either clinch a title for the first time since the 1970s or force the series back to New York with the Spurs carrying forward a fragile momentum repair job.
History does not forgive many 3-1 deficits in the Finals, so the immediate answer to the open question—can the Spurs recover?—is this: only by winning Saturday. The Spurs can leave San Antonio still alive by taking Game 5; otherwise the Knicks, having survived and then seized control after a historic comeback of their own in the series, will close the door on a 53-year drought.
