Down 29 points at halftime of Game 4 of the NBA Finals, the Knicks looked done. They clawed all the way back, and with 1.2 seconds left, Jalen Brunson's long three-pointer rimmed out. OG Anunoby tipped the miss straight into history.
New York closed it out in Game 5 for their first championship in 53 years. That exact sequence seems to have become the punchline months later, when Brunson hosted "Saturday Night Live" and brought Anunoby out for a piece of Knicks history. Anunoby brought it up first, deadpan as ever.
"Remember in Game 4 when you took that shot at the end and you missed it?" he asked. You tipped it in." Anunoby grinned. That was awesome." For a fanbase that waited 53 years, that tip-in wasn't just a game-winner.
It was the moment the whole thing finally felt real, the shot Knicks fans will replay for decades. Brunson was the reason New York even had a chance that night. He fought through a brutal first half, kept the offense alive when the deficit ballooned to 29, and finished with 36 points to drag his team back into it.
So when his own three-pointer rimmed out with the game on the line, it stung for a second. Nobody expected Brunson to be the one who missed. Anunoby was playing great all series, but Game 4 was his signature moment.
He finished with 33 points that night, a playoff career high, before the tip-in sealed it. New York is running it back with the same starting group that won it all. Training camp is next, with the Knicks opening their title defense on Oct. 20 against Philadelphia, a night that also doubles as their championship ring ceremony, with Anunoby, Josh Hart and Karl-Anthony Towns all back in the fold.
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