Karl-Anthony Towns grew up in New Jersey and was therefore saddled with New York Knicks fandom. He was not yet four years old when the Knicks lost to the San Antonio Spurs in the 1999 NBA Finals, and they went 27 years before reaching another Finals. So, Towns’ love for the Knicks felt more like a curse than a blessing for most of his life.
Now, Towns is on the magical Knicks team that won 11 straight games to reach the 2026 NBA Finals and extended the streak to 13 games by going up 2-0 on the Spurs in the Finals. If you’re a scarred Knicks fan who felt it must be too good to be true, the Spurs almost proved you right. They won Game 3 and held a 29-point lead in Game 4 at Madison Square Garden.
Who knows what conversations we’d be having if not for OG Anunoby skying through the lane and tipping in the game winner with 1.2 seconds left in Game 4. Towns was the first person to hug him afterward. The only explanation was divinity.
“The right hand of God, and can’t spell God without OG,” Towns said during his Friday media availability. “It’s high up on the list of New York moments.”
Towns also called it “the right hand of God” in his Game 4 postgame presser on Wednesday night.
“Every time we’re in the game with OG, third quarter, second quarter, whatever, he may not be feeling like he’s playing his best,” Towns said then. “Every time I talk to him, I always say, ‘I already know what OG Anunoby’s gonna do in the fourth quarter.’ He did exactly what I thought he would do. He gave us a chance to win, and that’s all you can ask for from the best two-way player in the NBA.”
The Knicks’ 107-106 Game 4 win is already immortalized as the largest comeback in NBA Finals history, but Anunoby’s iconic tip-in will become a statue-worthy shot if the Knicks can win one more game to claim their first NBA title since 1973 — and exact revenge on the Spurs for the 1999 Finals.
Game 5 between the Knicks and Spurs will take place at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio on Saturday night.
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