The Knicks were able to pull off an all-time epic 107-106 comeback victory over the Spurs in Game 4 of the NBA Finals thanks to a handful of pivotal moments down the stretch. One of those moments was Karl-Anthony Towns deflecting an inbounds pass by Dylan Harper on the Spurs’ final possession of the night.After OG Anunoby’s clutch tip-in gave the Knicks a narrow one-point lead, San Antonio had one more opportunity for a potential game-winner with 1.2 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Harper was in charge of inbounding the ball, but he would have to get it past Towns, the Knicks big man, in order to give his Spurs teammate a chance for a buzzer-beater. What Towns did before the inbounds largely went unnoticed until a video of his sneaky move started making the rounds on social media. As Harper prepared to pass the ball, Towns was seen directing two Knicks fans who were standing near Harper to get even closer to the Spurs guard to cramp him on the sideline. Harper wouldn’t have been able to move his feet on the inbounds anyway, but the two fans may have served as a pesky enough distraction to peeve Harper, at the very least. The video shows them standing nearly elbow-to-elbow to Harper before the Spurs rookie inbounded the ball.Then, in the deflection seen ‘round the world, Towns tipped Harper’s lob pass, which was intended for a wide-open Stephon Castle in the paint. The ball landed short, forcing Castle to make a tough last-second shot over Josh Hart before time expired. Castle couldn’t get the ball out quick enough, and the Knicks capped off the biggest-ever comeback in NBA Finals history—all thanks to a slight defection, and one sneaky, high-IQ move from KAT.Watch that sequence of events below:KAT asking fans to get closer to Harper giving him no space to move around. Lol Weak ass! pic.twitter.com/xGoQ3WYNIq— Angel (@_angel218_) June 11, 2026Here’s another angle of Towns’s big-time deflection, from superfan Ben Stiller’s perspective:pic.twitter.com/LRPhmeAdFp— Ben Stiller (@BenStiller) June 11, 2026(Peep Mariska Hargitay saying “Nope” and putting her hands on the back of the ref. A bona fide Knicks superfan.)How Karl-Anthony Towns performed in Game 4 win after early foul troubleFor all the talk of Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby coming up clutch in Game 4, Towns deserves his flowers just as much. Despite picking up two early fouls in the first quarter, the Knicks center made his minutes count and stayed on the floor for most of the fourth as Wembanyama’s primary defender.Towns finished with 13 points (4-of-5 from the field) and 10 rebounds, and he made all four of his free throw attempts. He also drew a key flagrant foul on Wembanyama that may have proved to be the turning point in the second half.KAT took a mean elbow from Wemby pic.twitter.com/Kpk3pq2OLH— Shabazz 💫 (@ShowCaseShabazz) June 11, 2026Following two strong outings to start the Finals, Towns visibly struggled in Game 3, and the Knicks went on to lose their first game of the series. It’s no coincidence that whenever he plays well (and stays out of foul trouble), the Knicks also play well—and win. He’ll yet again take on a crucial role on both sides of the court in Game 5 in San Antonio, where he could potentially cement his case for Finals MVP. The 30-year-old center is averaging 15.8 points, 10.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists across four games so far this series, albeit his most valuable contribution has arguably been keeping Wembanyama contained as much as possible. More NBA from Sports IllustratedAdd us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow