For nearly 47 minutes, the San Antonio Spurs looked poised to leave New York with the NBA finals level at two games apiece.
They’d led by 81-52 in the third quarter, brought a frenzied Madison Square Garden crowd to heel and put themselves on the verge of reclaiming home-court advantage after having dropped the first two games at home. Even after the Knicks mounted a furious second-half fightback and wiped out the entirety of San Antonio’s 29-point cushion, the Spurs still appeared to have one final lifeline.