The Knicks didn’t just win Game 3 — they survived a full-blown collapse and flipped the Finals

The Knicks didn’t just win Game 3 — they survived a full-blown collapse and flipped the Finals

Nobody in the history of the NBA Finals had ever come back from 29 points down, and the previous record was 24 points by the 2008 Boston Celtics. In Game 3, the New York Knicks survived a half dozen moments where the whole thing should have collapsed and won 107-106 on a one-handed tip-in with 1.2 seconds left. The swing got ridiculous: the Knicks entered Game 4 with a 62 percent chance to win the chip, San Antonio had pushed it as high as 64 percent during its commanding lead, and by the time OG Anunoby's tip-in fell through the net, New York was at 82 percent and one win away from their first title since 1973. The key point is in the pack itself: this wasn’t one miracle, it was 20 decisions and a Spurs meltdown stacked into one spectacular choke job.

Gobble's Take: When a Finals lead of 29 evaporates, “momentum” stops being a cliché and starts looking like a crime scene.
Source: Perplexity Search (community news)

Wembanyama got gassed, and the Knicks kept aiming at the bruise

Up 20 with nine minutes left, Wembanyama attacked the rim and Robinson swatted it away. That alone is small-box-score stuff, but the pack says it was the first signal that the Knicks’ bigs were not going to hand San Antonio the paint in the second half. Mitch Johnson then had a 29-point halftime lead and chose not to rest Wemby. Luke Kornet only played 58 seconds in the second half, and the Knicks cooked him every second. By crunch time, Wemby was laboring through possessions he would have handled easily earlier, and that fatigue fed directly into the foul sequence that followed: before Game 3, Wemb was shooting 86% from the stripe, the Knicks fouled him deliberately while trailing 104-103, and a near 90% free throw shooter bricked both.

Gobble's Take: If you keep your star in the oven too long, don’t act shocked when the fourth quarter smells like burnt edges.
Source: Perplexity Search (community news)

The playoff conversation is already expanding beyond the Finals choke

The playoff and preseason chatter is running on multiple tracks at once. One roundup says first-round reactions are already raising "are they cooked" questions about the trailing teams — specifically the Pistons, Nuggets, Rockets, Sixers, and Blazers. That same pack also shifts to WNBA preseason takeaways, noting Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever “wowed with their tempo,” while debuts and rookie impressions were part of the early buzz. The names in the mix include Ariel Atkins, Rickea Jackson, Chennedy Carter, Olivia Miles, Lauren Betts, Gabriela Jaquez, Flau'jae Johnson, Raven Johnson, Cotie McMahon, Ta'Niya Latson, and Rori Harmson.

Gobble's Take: The league is barely out of one playoff panic and already building the next pile of overreactions — which is, frankly, the sport’s favorite offseason.
Source: Perplexity Search (evergreen)

In Case You Missed It

Yesterday's top stories:

• The Knicks turned a burial into a live series
• The slow-motion replay makes it worse
• The Knicks trailed by 29 and completed the comeback to win 107-106.