Starting 5: Game 5 of NBA Finals loom in Texas

After the greatest comeback in the history of the NBA Finals, the whole hoops world’s been buzzing.

But with the Knicks up 3-1 and the Spurs out to extend their season, both squads still have plenty of work to be done when Game 5 tips Saturday in San Antonio (8:30 ET, ABC).

5 STORIES IN TODAY’S EDITION 🏀

NY’s Team: How the Knicks built a roster with something to prove

Quiet Eruption: OG Anunoby keeps his composure during Playoffs breakout

Finals Film Study: John Schuhmann examines how NY tried to bring Wemby out of the paint in Game 4

Texas Turnaround? Spurs set sights on 3-1 climb after Game 4’s historic 1st half

Still Awestruck: More reaction roundup as Game 4 lived on in New York and beyond

BUT FIRST … ⏰

The Knicks will look to claim their first title since 1973, while the Spurs look to send the series to six games, as the NBA Finals head back to San Antonio for Game 5 Saturday (8:30 ET, ABC).

Both the Knicks and Spurs are set to meet with the media later today, and The Association has full coverage on NBA TV, beginning at 1 ET.

• San Antonio addresses the media beginning at 1:30 ET
• New York takes the podium starting at 2:15 ET

Forever Finals: Twenty-four years ago today, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant led the Lakers to their three-peat — the last one the league has seen — sweeping the Nets in the 2002 NBA Finals. Watch the full Classic Games free with your NBA ID.

1. ORANGE & BLUE-COLLAR: HOW THE KNICKS’ MENTALITY HELPED MAKE HISTORY

In the hours after Game 4, Knicks players were still trying to explain the latest historic comeback they had unleashed in The Garden.

As for the “how,” Josh Hart spoke about the team’s one-game-at-a-time mentality, and the level-headedness needed to succeed – in the Playoffs, and in New York.

“If we win three or four in a row, you’re the best team in the league,” Hart said of NYC. “If you lose three or four in a row, everybody is on the trade block … You try to stay even.”

Somewhat similar to the city that shaped its mental edge, this Knicks squad is a melting pot of grinders willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their dreams.

And sixth-year president Leon Rose assembled a group that’s harnessing its fair share of chips on its shoulders.

• Captain Come-Up: Before he was Eastern Conference Finals MVP, Jalen Brunson signed with NY following four seasons as a backup in Dallas, where he was a 2nd-round pick
• Wandering Hart: After four teams and three trades, Josh Hart found a home in NY with his first career stint longer than three seasons
• Iron Bridges: Since appearing in the 2021 Finals, Mikal Bridges was traded to the Nets and then the Knicks. The NBA ironman hasn’t missed a game in his career, spanning over 700 games, regular-season and postseason

“That night is No. 1,” Hart said of his NCAA National Championship at Villanova with Brunson and Bridges, with Wednesday’s Game 4 ranking 2nd. The college stars are out to replicate that level of success at the pro level.

• Changing Towns: After nine seasons as Minnesota’s No. 1 overall pick and centerpiece resulted in a West Finals appearance, Karl-Anthony Towns was traded to NY in 2024
• Playoff OG: Before landing in NY via a 2023 trade, an emergency appendectomy prevented OG Anunoby from his first Finals experience with Toronto in 2019. This time, Anunoby is working to have a more direct hand in the title
• Deep Ties: Jalen Brunson’s dad was a Knick. Jose Alvarado grew up playing on the NYC courts. Karl-Anthony Towns’ late mom, Jacqueline Cruz-Towns, became a Knicks fan after immigrating to the U.S.

“To be able to have this moment in Knicks history … where New York has been hungry to be back in the Finals, it means a lot,” Towns said. “It means a lot to me, my loved ones, to be part of the Knicks history that’s doing this.”

And as Knicks fans are showcasing, with their best title chance in 53 years, the more something means, the more energy it can generate.

• “We cannot let go of the rope,” Towns said after Game 4’s comeback.“We always have a chance if we go out there and take it to another level.”
• Perfect Storm: The added meaning, the energy boost and this roster are feeding the Knicks’ strong finishes, as the first team since 1971 to win three Finals games after trailing in the final 2 minutes of each
• Bound Together: “When you have a group of guys that have that willingness to sacrifice and that humility, that breeds a championship culture,” Hard said

2. OG ANUNOBY’S EPIC PLAYOFF SURGE

The reigning Kia Defensive Player of the Year and a Kia MVP finalist.

Two former Kia Clutch Players of the Year.

Four All-Stars, three Kia Rookie of the Year winners and two former Kia Sixth Men.

With no shortage of playmakers on the floor in these Finals, the most impactful play thus far belongs to the series’ quietest competitor.

OG Anunoby’s Game 4 tip-in has put the Knicks on the verge of a championship and could put OG among the series’ decorated names, Shaun Powell writes in his Finals MVP Ladder:

• “They’re up 3-1 because of that play, but the epic moment alone doesn’t describe what Anunoby has done this series. Most of his contributions to that point were fantastic yet quiet, until the boom
• The Stat To Know: Anunoby has made more 3-pointers (15) than Towns and Jalen Brunson combined (14) in the Finals
• During the regular season, Anunoby was a reliable shooter (38.6%) from that distance, yet he made fewer 3-pointers per game on average than Deuce McBride.” | Read More

A quiet, composed demeanor, a quiet level-up, and quiet contributions – before Wednesday. When asked what hitting a Finals game-winner in front of his home fans felt like, Anunoby remained locked in.

• “It feels cool. I mean, everyone’s pretty excited. I’m excited, too,” he said, cracking a smile when the room laughed
• “We’re all excited. We’re enjoying it right now. But we’re just focused on the next game”

So what’s fueling Anunoby’s boom?

• “Just having poise,” Anunoby said this week. “Being decisive in whatever I do, whether it’s shoot or drive or jab … and then just shooting with confidence.”
• Star Turn: That confidence has produced a career-best 20.9 ppg this postseason, on 57.8/50.6 shooting splits, following his 33-point Game 4 in which he shot 10-for-15 overall and 7-for-9 from three
• Speaking Of Stars: Anunoby is on pace to be the second player in NBA history to average at least 20 ppg on 57+/50+ shooting splits in a postseason (min. 50 3FGA), following Devin Booker in 2023
• Full Court: Anunoby’s two-way play has also stood out, even opposite the Defensive POY and MVP finalist in Victor Wembanyama. He’s holding his matchups to 42.8 FG% and a Playoff-best 86 FGM (min. 200 DFGA)

“He gave us a chance to win, and that’s all you could ask for from the best two-way player in the NBA,” Karl-Anthony Towns said of Anunoby.

• Ratcheting Up: In 4th quarters this postseason, Anunoby’s locked his opponents down to just 34.8% shooting. Through four Finals 4th quarters, his matchups are just 3-of-18
• Complete, Consistent: He’s scored at least 15 points in 13 of 16 Playoff games in this run, while also grabbing at least one steal in 13 of the 16 games as well
• Tale Of The Tape: Since his sophomore season in 2018-19, Anunoby has a net-positive career plus/minus, logging at least a +100 in every regular season since

So when asked after Game 4 if he felt he was still underrated as a scorer, Anunoby replied:

“I think so, yeah. I do.”

Not by his teammates: “We know what we have in our locker room,” said Jalen Brunson of Anunoby. “We have a superstar.”

3. FILM STUDY: HOW NY COUNTERED WEMBY IN GAME 4

When the Knicks can get Wemby out of the paint, good things have happened for them.

So how do they move a 7-foot-4 mountain? By inviting him into a star-vs.-star showdown with Jalen Brunson.

From the KAT decoys to Jose Alvarado joining the choreography, NBA.com’s John Schuhmann picks apart all the chess moves and counters that set up New York’s target matchup.

“The big plays were all different. But there was one play, one action, that was consistent throughout the Knicks’ comeback on Wednesday: a meeting of the best player on each team — Jalen Brunson and Victor Wembanyama.

According to tracking data, the player whom Wembanyama was guarding set 28 ball screens for Brunson in Game 3.

• That’s the second most ball-screens from Wembanyama’s man for a single opposing player in any game in his three-year career, and…
• Almost as many ball-screens as the Knicks had set for Brunson (using Wembanyama’s man) through the first three games (33)

Here’s the thing … That action wasn’t working for the Knicks through the first three games. On those 33 ball-screens, they had scored just 0.73 points per chance (22/30). There was some success with it in Game 2, but almost none in Games 1 and 3.

In Game 4, the Knicks more than doubled that success rate …

Here are a few examples of how the 6-foot-2 Brunson’s willingness to take on the 7-foot-4 Wembanyama determined the outcome of Game 4.” | Read More

4. BACKS AGAINST WALL, SPURS DRAW ON HISTORIC HALF & LESSONS LEARNED

For a little over an hour on Wednesday, everything clicked for San Antonio.

The Spurs came out hot. The MSG crowd went silent as shots fell – and records did, too.

The visitors looked as sharp as any team ever in the first half of a Finals game … before the Knicks mounted the greatest comeback in any Finals game.

Now the Spurs will look to draw on the good – and there’s been so much of that in these Finals – along with a history of defying expectations to send the series to six games.

“It’s going to go one of two ways. A bad one and a good one,” Wembanyama said. “The bad one would be giving up. The good one would be getting stronger through this, getting more together. I know this is what we’re going to do.”

Here’s how good the first half of Game 4 was to the Spurs:

• Elite Company: Their 76 points marked the second-most of any Finals half during the play-by-play era
• Who Was First? The 86 points the Cavs put up in Game 4 of the 2017 Finals, snapping the Warriors’ 15-game win streak
• That Streak? Correct. The only one single-postseason win streak longer than the 13 straight games the Knicks had won, ‘til the Spurs beat them in Game 3
• Hot Hands: The Spurs’ 14 treys set a record for a Finals half, breaking the 13 from those 2017 Cavaliers
• Coming Out Hot: After vowing to be more assertive, Wemby and the Spurs came out that way for the second straight game, dropping 41 in the 1st Q and finishing the quarter up by 19

“It’s a pretty clear picture,” said Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson. “If you watch the game in terms of what we did in the first half and why we scored so many points: It was pace, finding the paint, passing the ball to your teammate, taking good shots. The second half was opposite of that.”

Across their lineup, each member of the second-youngest Finals team in history (by playing time) found a groove – and for 24 minutes, the Spurs looked like the best version of themselves:

• Alien Attack: After averaging 6 shots in the first half of Games 1 & 2, Wemby put up double-digit first-half shots for the second straight game, scoring 16 pts on 54.5% shooting
• Swarming: Guards/wings De’Aaron Fox, Devin Vassell & Dylan Harper combined for 43 pts on 75% shooting – including a 10-for-12 mark from 3
• Dimes: The Spurs’ 18 first-half assists, led by Fox’s 6, matched the Knicks’ entire Game 3 total

Then, the Knicks went on a run. And the Spurs had to watch a potential 2-2 tie become a 3-1 series.

Now, San Antonio must do what it’s spent all season doing: rising up.

• Ahead Of Schedule: This is a team that received zero votes in the NBA GM Survey to finish first, second or third in the West – getting one to finish fourth
• West’s Best: It’s also a team that took down the defending champion Thunder in eight of 12 meetings this year, including handing the Thunder just their second loss of the year after starting 24-1
• Battling Back: It’s a squad that answered two losses at home to start the Finals with a resounding win in the World’s Most Famous Arena in Game 3

And it’s a squad, Harper said, that’s not going to back down.

“A whole new fire, I feel like, is ignited in me, in a sense that we gave that game away,” he said. “And if we’re going to lose, we’re not going out like that. We’re going to put up a fight. We’re going to keep swinging.”

5. WHAT YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE SEEN (YET) FROM THE KNICKS’ GAME 4 WIN

Nobody, it seemed, could believe what they just saw.

As the floor cleared and “Inside the NBA” began on Wednesday night, the crowd at Madison Square Garden stayed put, high-fiving, making sense of what happened and celebrating into the night.

And that was just the beginning. What followed was a night – into a day – of celebration in New York City and among Knicks fans around the world, including some of the biggest stars in the world.

With many indelible moments to show for it.

Check out some of the best here – and if you missed it, tap here for yesterday’s edition, packed with the best reactions off the rip:

• Stars Were Out: See a few of the biggest names in the building on Wednesday
• Welcome To New York: Taylor Swift had a night, from sitting courtside with Este & Alana Haim – in custom pun tees – to celebrating postgame
• Pretty, Pretty Good: You gotta see Jerry Seinfeld’s reaction to OG’s tip-in … ‘One of the great moments in New York Sports history just happened’
• The Jonas POV: Kevin Jonas was in the mix postgame as MSG reacted to the W
• “Wu”: RZA, Method Man & Patrick Ewing chopped it up postgame, after the Wu Tang Clan put on a now-iconic performance at half … with Method saying ‘Knicks In 5’ just before the NY run
• Family Ties: Carmelo Anthony, J.R. Smith, Stephon Marbury & more Knicks alums couldn’t believe their eyes
• Benson Burner: Follow superfan Mariska Hargitay as she gives love to OG postgame and celebrates on the floor
• Outside The Arena: In a city of watch parties, Central Park brought the energy

Looking for more from the game itself? Got you.

• Heard Around The World: What did OG’s game-winner sound like in different languages?
• POV, You’re The Rim: See a different perspective on OG’s tip-in
• ‘This Building Is Shaking!’ Hear MSG erupt after Brunson made it a 1-point game
• From Tip-In To Fingertips: Slow it down and see KAT redirect the Spurs’ inbound pass in the final seconds
• A New York Thing: Brooklyn’s own Jose Alvarado talked about what made Game 4 so special

Want to share Starting 5 with a friend? Send them this link.

Shape the Starting 5.  Email us here.

Don’t have the NBA App? Download it here.