When De’Aaron Fox pulled up at the free-throw line and sank a mid-range jumpshot with 9:40 to go in the third quarter, bringing the San Antonio Spurs’ lead to 29, he sent New York Knicks fans into the basketball version of Hell.
Their team looked listless in the first half, falling to a 27-point deficit at halftime. The second half was starting off in much the same fashion and San Antonio’s lead was growing. Madison Square Garden sounded more like a library than the world’s famous arena.
A little more than 85 minutes later, Knicks fans were in the basketball version of heaven. They had just seen something so incredible, so unbelievable, so impossible that they couldn’t (or wouldn’t) leave the World Most Famous Arena. What they had witnessed was the largest comeback in NBA Finals history, quite possibly the greatest comeback in NBA history and an all-time iconic American sports moment.
This is the anatomy of a comeback.
Just after that Fox jumper, the Knicks began chipping away at the Spurs’ massive lead. A 13-0 run in the middle of the third quarter chopped the lead down to 16 with five minutes to go in the third quarter. For the first time all game – the Spurs took the lead early in the first quarter and hadn’t looked back – Madison Square Garden started to make some noise.
