The Knicks complete the biggest Finals comeback ever as they recover from a 29-point deficit for a 3-1 lead on the Spurs.
• Complete coverage: 2026 NBA Finals
• Download the NBA App
At this point in the 2026 Finals, it’s about time for Ferris Bueller to pop up in the closing credits to ask, “You’re still here?”
This site dutifully has been providing a viewer’s guide before each game, a “3 Things to Watch” primer to offer some context and inside analysis to what’s likely to happen each time the Spurs and the Knicks tip it off. A shift in strategy here, a lineup change there, something up one of the coaches’ sleeves or bonus motivation by a star or even role player can swing the outcome and conceivably the championship series.
But now? At 3-1 in favor of New York? The big picture couldn’t be more clear: Either the Knicks win their first NBA title since 1973, or San Antonio throws a wrench in those plans Saturday night at Frost Bank Center and sends everyone packing back to Manhattan, where the locals will pump up the volume to keep pace with their anxiety.
Besides, the best stuff in this Finals so far has been thoroughly unpredictable. Who had the Spurs opening a 29-point lead on the road in Game 4 – and then losing every bit of it? Anyone claiming they knew OG Anunoby would make in a span of seconds two of the greatest clutch plays in NBA history – that late block of Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox followed by his ridiculously perfect tip-in for the winning bucket – had better have receipts to prove it.
Probably the most certain thing to watch for Saturday is something heretofore unseen, a stunning play from an unexpected hero or someone like Victor Wembanyama or Jalen Brunson topping himself yet again for the viewing pleasure of millions.
That said, here are three things to watch in Game 5 (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC):
1. Less Wembanyama
If you had a marvelously skilled 7-foot-4 matchup migraine of a player at your disposal, you’d want him on the court, not just on the bench or the roster. This playoff run has been a coming-out party of sorts for Wembanyama, and like any guest of honor, he needs to be front and center.
But maybe not all the time. There have been signs that San Antonio’s big man is wearing down, both in his body language and his production. That’s a problem because in a series as close as this one has been, the Spurs need Wemby at his best near the ends of games, not at his most tired.
Victor Wembanyama talks with the media ahead of Game 5 of the 2026 NBA Finals.
Remember, this is a Kia MVP candidate who failed to top some voters’ ballots simply because he didn’t play enough. Wembanyama averaged 29.2 minutes and a total of 1,866 in the regular season. Because of various absences, he was on the court for fewer than half of San Antonio’s 3,946 minutes. No MVP in league history ever averaged so few minutes and played only 47% of the available minutes, so despite the Spurs’ 62-20 record, the big fella finished third behind OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver’s Nikola Jokić.
Now Wembanyama is at the other end of the scale – only teammates Devin Vassell and Stephon Castle have amassed more playoff minutes than their center’s 712. His average over the four rounds so far (33.9) is misleading, because Wembanyama has upped his participation with each round, now at 40.3 in the Finals.
Game 4, a.k.a, the biggest collapse in Finals history when the Spurs squandered a 29-point lead and lost 107-106 Wednesday, was San Antonio’s 104th game since the season began almost eight months ago. However fresh Wembanyama felt as the night began, he looked anything but as the booming Garden closed in on him late.
Wembanyama’s first half: 20:53 minutes, 16 points on 6-for-11 shooting with six rebounds, plus-28.
His second half: 23:02, eight points on 3-for-14 with seven boards and a minus-27.
He has made just one field-goal attempt in the final two minutes across four games. The heavy workload Wednesday especially was puzzling given how fat a lead the Spurs had for much of the game.
“Definitely [fatigue was] a factor, but it’s the playoffs — everybody’s just as tired,” Wembanyama said. This guy is 7-foot-4 and he doesn’t run up and down the middle of the floor in a straight line. He’s moving inside and out, helping defensively from one side of the lane to the other.
“Now we’ve got two days between the games [so] it’s not going to be a factor.”
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson didn’t sound Friday as if he was going to leave Wembanyama’s stamina entirely to the schedule.
“Looking back on it, I do believe that I have to make sure that I help him have the energy required to finish the game as strong as he needs to,” Johnson said. “I could have done better in that regard.”
2. More Harper
Rookie Dylan Harper, the No. 2 pick in last summer’s Draft, was going to present a happy problem to the Spurs eventually – he projected to move into the starting backcourt next to Castle in a year or two. But the issue has arrived much sooner than later.
The 20-year-old Harper, son of NBA alumnus Ron Harper, has sped up the timeline with his savvy, often-veteran-like play. He is a prodigy at attacking the paint and either finishing at the rim or spraying the ball to a teammate his penetration has helped open.
Harper, averaging 16.3 points in the Finals after 11.8 during the season, still is coming off the bench. But teammate De’Aaron Fox’s uneven play, particularly in Game 4, has some fans and media folks clamoring for minutes beyond Harper’s current 32 per.
Consider each guard’s work alongside the most important Spur so far this series:
- Wembanyama and Fox have a -1.2 net rating in the four games, the Spurs scoring about 105 points per 100 possessions while giving up about 106.
- Wemby and Harper are at +9.8, based on 111 points per 100 offensively and about 101 defensively.
The basis for sticking with Fox has been the veteran’s know-how vs. Harper’s meager experience. But multiple bad decisions/plays by Fox Saturday could swing their participation.
Not that Johnson was the one suggesting or confirming it.
“People have their opinions,” he said. “I don’t care. … De’Aaron Fox will have the basketball in his hands at the end of the game [Saturday], and I have the utmost confidence he’s going to deliver like he’s done countless times for us.”
3. Better start by New York
Talk about irony: This has been one of the closest Finals on record, with the Spurs and the Knicks within four points in the final minute of all four games.
And yet, every game has begun like a San Antonio blowout, Wembanyama and his crew leading by at least 10 points in each first quarter and by a cumulative 47 points after 12 minutes of the four games.
It’s a reckless way to go through any playoff series, let alone a Finals. Oodles of credit belongs to the Spurs for executing from tipoff, but the flip side is how shoddy or unfocused the Knicks have looked in digging holes each night.
Heading into Game 5, the race is on: Can New York play better at the start or can San Antonio protect an early lead? First to accomplish its goal either ends or significantly alters this series.
* * *
Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.
Leave a Reply