It’s not every day you see a team erase a 29-point deficit on the road in the NBA Finals. But the New York Knicks did exactly that in San Antonio on Thursday, flipping a potential 2-2 series into a 3-1 stranglehold. And now, with a potential championship clincher looming, head coach Mike Brown is fighting a different opponent: the human temptation to look ahead.
Brown stood in front of reporters Friday and delivered a message that sounded simple but carries serious weight in a moment like this. “The biggest thing is everybody has to stay present,” he said. “You can’t think about the outcome. It’s about the process. It’s just about the next play, the next play, the next play.”
It’s a philosophy Brown has leaned on all postseason, but it takes on new urgency now. The Knicks are one win away from the franchise’s first NBA title since 1973. The Spurs, meanwhile, have a Hall of Fame coach in Gregg Popovich and a roster that just proved it can build a 29-point lead in a must-win game. Closeout games, as Brown reminded everyone, are the hardest in the series.
“Anybody’s mind can start wandering when you think about the outcome,” Brown added. “When you’re playing against other great teams especially, that’s how you have to take it.”
The Knicks’ Game 4 comeback was fueled by two massive performances. Jalen Brunson dropped a game-high 36 points with five rebounds and seven assists. OG Anunoby poured in a playoff career-high 33 points, added a game-saving block on the other end, and then tipped in the winning basket with 1.2 seconds left. It was the kind of sequence that could make a team believe it’s destiny. Brown, predictably, isn’t buying that narrative.
“Sometimes you think about the process and it doesn’t work out,” he said. “But that’s how you have to take it.”
History says the Knicks are in a commanding position. Teams holding a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals have won the series 34 out of 36 times. But those two exceptions—the 2016 Warriors and the 2006 Mavericks—are cautionary tales no coach wants his players fixated on. Brown’s focus on the present isn’t just coach-speak; it’s a deliberate strategy to keep a young, hungry team from getting tight.
Game 5 tips off Saturday night at 8:30 PM EST on ABC. If the Knicks close it out, they’ll do so by following a rule that sounds almost too simple: next play, next play, next play.
Leave a Comment