Knicks fans should celebrate their championship by replaying one iconic moment

For a lot of NBA fans, the fact that the New York Knicks are the NBA Champions for the first time since 1973 is still sinking in. One of the big reasons the Knicks finally made it was OG Anunoby, who found another gear this season. And his brilliant play to close out game four of the finals sealed the deal.

Anunoby has always been a great player, but the Knicks' head coach Mike Brown found something deeper in him. The man was playing like he was possessed for the entire season on both offense and defense, ramping his game up continually throughout the playoffs. There's a potential reason for that.

He was a member of the 2019 Toronto Raptors team that won the title. Anunoby didn't play in the finals, though. He was on the bench due to an emergency appendectomy. For him, the 2026 round of the NBA Finals probably felt like an opportunity to settle some unfinished business from 2019.

While Anunoby had some huge plays on both ends of the court throughout the finals, there's no doubt that his game-winning shot in game four was the biggest of them all. While he recently downplayed the moment as a failed dunk on Good Morning America, it was a smarter play than that.

The brilliance of one play by Anunoby

With mere seconds left, the Knicks were trying to complete what would be the biggest comeback in the history of the NBA Finals. They were down by 29 points and had fought their way back in the second half to cut the Spurs lead to one point. That was huge on its own.

Anunoby inbounded the ball to Brunson, who took a three-point shot. It was just slightly short. No one saw Anunoby running for the basket from roughly where he inbounded. He cut off the Spurs' defenders going for the rebound and tipped the shot back into the basket with only 1.2 seconds left.

What Anunoby did was poetic genius. Victor Wembanyama was double-teaming Brunson at the three-point line, leaving the paint open. Every other Spur was on another Knick, also leaving Anunoby open. He stayed out of the play, making sure San Antonio was not paying attention to him.

Before Brunson's shot even hit the rim, Anunoby had already taken off and was moving at full speed for the rebound. The tip itself was a thing of beauty. If he had gone for the dunk, Anunoby risked the clock running out while the ball was in his hand and the shot not counting. The tip prevented that.

Anunoby broke the spirits of the Spurs

The fact that Anunoby has done everything he can to minimize this masterful play is not a shock. He's a generally stoic guy in public and does not seem to appreciate the spotlight being on him. Laughing the play off as a failed dunk attempt fits what everyone knows about him.

At the same time, it remains an incredibly well-executed play by an elite athlete who knew exactly what needed to be done and how. This shot will continue to be discussed, remembered, and analyzed the way Kawhi Leonard's 2019 game-winning shot in the playoffs against the 76ers is.

More than that, the 29-point comeback, punctuated by a brilliant shot that took full advantage of a collapsing defense, utterly broke the back of the Spurs. New York might have won the title with a victory in game five, but the series was done the second Anunoby tipped that ball in game four.

The reality is that Anunoby is never going to brag about his success or the epic shot that helped win a title, at least in public. That's not his style. But basketball fans around the world know exactly what he did and how beautiful a play it truly was. This was basketball at its absolute finest.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow