Officially, historically, the craziest NBA Finals game of all time. 

In the space of 48 minutes, you had the San Antonio Spurs setting an NBA Finals record for made threes in a half (14) and the largest lead by a road team through the first two quarters (27 points). It seemed like what had already been a remarkable Finals in so many ways was going to get just a little bit weirder: with the veteran New York Knicks and upstart Spurs heading into Game 5 tied at 2-2, neither team having won a game on its home court. 

But the craziness was just getting started, with the Knicks eventually making the greatest comebacks in NBA Finals history.

After allowing the Spurs to shoot 59.6 per cent in the first half — including 53.8 per cent from three — and forcing just two turnovers and absolutely killing the atmosphere in Madison Square Garden along the way, the Knicks decided to play some defence in the second half. That, combined with some regression in San Antonio's shooting, a rising energy in the Garden and the youthful Spurs — for one of the few times in this post-season run — looking like a team that relies heavily on a rookie (Dylan Harper), a second-year player (Stephon Castle) and a third-year superstar (Victor Wembanyama). The possessions got rushed. Too many hasty threes were settled for, and suddenly the Spurs couldn’t hang onto the ball. The Knicks cut what was a 29-point Spurs lead with 9:40 to play in the third quarter to 15 to start the fourth. 

But even with that, the Spurs pushed their advantage to 20 with 9:33 left in the gam, when Wembanyama tipped in his own missed lay-up. 

But then everything fell apart — for the Spurs at least. 

The team that couldn’t miss in the first half made just eight field goals on 39 attempts in the second half, 4-of-19 in the fourth quarter. After setting an NBA record for three-point shooting in the first half, they shot 3-of-17 from deep in the second. After making just two turnovers in the first half, they made five in each of the third and fourth quarters. 

It was a total collapse, punctuated in some ways by Wembanyama — an 86 per cent free-throw shooter through these playoffs — missing three free throws in the fourth quarter, including a pair with 1:47 left and the Spurs clinging to a one-point lead. He had 23 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots, but was just 9-of-25 from the floor.

Meanwhile, the Knicks and Knicks fans will long celebrate the greatest single game in the history of one of the NBA’s charter franchises, going back to 1946. 

It culminated in a hard-to-believe 107-106 win that gave the Knicks a 3-1 lead as the series shifts back to San Antonio for Game 5 on Saturday,........

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