By Fred Katz | The Athletic, 2026-06-11 09:05:51
纽约——任何理智的人都会告诉迈尔斯·麦克布莱德 (Miles McBride)，他的球队已经毫无胜算。
半场结束时，纽约尼克斯落后27分。总决赛眼看就要带着2比2的平局回到圣安东尼奥。但身处一群同样坚信奇迹的队友之中，麦克布莱德却不这么想。
这位25岁的后卫在脑海中一遍遍回放着球队上半场的种种失误。几次糟糕的犯规、几次漏掉的防守轮转，还有几个本该投进却刷筐而出的跳投。麦克布莱德自己也是手感冰凉，一球未中。与此同时，马刺队却弹无虚发。
他们似乎能投进每一个高难度的挑篮，投中每一个三分，扣进每一个篮筐。在前两节，他们甚至没有罚丢过一个球。他们几乎没有任何失误，上半场仅有两次。圣安东尼奥打出了一场完美的篮球比赛。但在麦克布莱德脑海中，这对尼克斯来说反而是个好兆头。
为了计算出“合理的”分差——他认为这个分差应该更能反映双方的真实表现，而不是那个寒酸的记分牌上显示的数字——他扣掉了马刺队投进的几个球。毕竟，如此滚烫的手感在接下来的两节里是不可能持续的。接着，他又因为尼克斯自己犯下的愚蠢错误，从对方的领先优势中扣掉了几分。在这一番即兴的“麦克布莱德式数学计算”后，他得出结论：真实的落后分差更像是14分。
“14分，”他想，“这完全可以追。”
尼克斯能抹平14分的差距。毕竟，他们曾从更糟糕的绝境中逆袭。
就在上个系列赛中，他们在首战第四节还剩8分钟时，还落后克利夫兰骑士队22分。但不知怎的，他们赢了。因为“不知怎的”已经融入了尼克斯的DNA。“不知怎的”就是他们的行事风格。“不知怎的”也是为什么麦克布莱德坐在更衣柜前，说服自己周三上半场那场惨败（马刺一度领先多达29分）无法击垮他们。而“不知怎的”——尤其是在总决赛第四场完成如此惊天逆转，并以一场奇迹般的 107-106 险胜 告终，让他们距离53年来的首个总冠军仅一步之遥后——已经成为了这支球队的标签。
这支由18名球员组成的队伍——从麦克布莱德到杰伦·布伦森 (Jalen Brunson)，再到OG·阿奴诺比 (OG Anunoby)——从来不觉得自己会输。
无论是在季后赛中领先30分、40分甚至50分（纽约在这个春天曾多次做到），还是在落后到足以让其他任何球队绝望的分数时，他们都从未放弃。对于旁观者来说，落后29分意味着该缴械投降了。但只有在麦迪逊广场花园（MSG）的魔法下，它才会孕育出拯救世界的白衣骑士。
在那个用坚韧凝聚力带领尼克斯取得总决赛3比1领先的更衣室里，麦克布莱德的这种思维方式并非特例。这正是他们的常态。
“当你落后29分时，你不会去想‘我们必须赢下这场比赛’，”乔什·哈特 (Josh Hart) 说道，“在落后29分时，你会想‘好吧，先把分差缩小到20分’。第三节还剩三分钟，我们落后18分，你会想，‘让我们把分差缩小到10分’。到了第四节，你会觉得，这是决战时刻了，任何事情都可能发生。当你拥有一群这样的家伙时——这始于（总裁）莱昂·罗斯 (Leon Rose) 和（执行副总裁）威廉·卫斯理 (William Wesley)——（主教练）迈克·布朗 (Mike Brown) 也是如此——这种信念就会自上而下地传递下去。”
半场休息时，布朗甚至懒得播放前两节的任何录像。通常情况下，主教练会带球员们看几个片段。但在周三，他让球员们自己调整。
“那时候真的没什么好说的了，”布伦森说，“我们只需要一点点蚕食分差，稳扎稳打，一分一分地咬。”
几名球员讨论着圣安东尼奥火热的手感不可能一直延续。助理教练达伦·埃尔曼 (Darren Erman)——他是汤姆·锡伯杜 (Tom Thibodeau) 教练组留任的成员，曾亲历上赛季杀入东部决赛的征程——向一些队员提起了他们在2025年对阵波士顿凯尔特人队系列赛的前两场比赛。
在那两场比赛中，尼克斯都曾落后多达20分。但他们两场都赢了，并最终在六场内爆冷淘汰了卫冕冠军凯尔特人。
但当年对阵波士顿的逆转与如今的这些神迹相比根本不值一提。当时凯尔特人一次又一次打铁，随着他们手感降温，尼克斯跌跌撞撞地找到了赢球的方向。但对阵克利夫兰以及如今对阵圣安东尼奥的逆转，则是一场场势不可挡的狂飙，其中夹杂着布伦森的惊艳表现、卡尔-安东尼·唐斯 (Karl-Anthony Towns) 在第四节的后仰跳投，以及阿奴诺比的英雄主义。
阿奴诺比的英雄斗篷总是在意想不到的时刻飘起：当他飞身跃起，完成勒布朗·詹姆斯 (LeBron James) 式的追身大帽时；当球莫名其妙地传到他手中，而他手起刀落投中三分时；当然，还有当他拼抢进内线，完成总决赛历史上最伟大的补篮时。
尼克斯并不知道第四场比赛会以这种方式收尾。他们料到马刺的手感会下滑，但没想到会下滑到这种程度。他们没有预料到阿奴诺比会飙中7记三分，没有预料到将豪塞·阿尔瓦拉多 (Jose Alvarado) 与布伦森混搭上场会彻底迷惑对手，没有预料到达龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 会尝试一次极其不明智的上篮，更没有预料到马刺球星维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 在鏖战44分钟后，会在最后一节双腿沉重、步履维艰。
他们没有预料到任何细节。他们只知道麦克布莱德和球队其他成员告诉自己的话：完成NBA总决赛历史上最大的一场逆转，不过是他们的家常便饭。
由生成式 AI 翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
点击查看原文：How 'somehow' became the Knicks' DNA, and led to a historic NBA Finals Game 4 comeback
How ‘somehow’ became the Knicks’ DNA, and led to a historic NBA Finals Game 4 comeback
NEW YORK — Any sane person would have told Miles McBride that his team no longer stood a chance.
The New York Knicks trailed by 27 at halftime. The NBA Finals were bound to go back to San Antonio tied at two games apiece. But McBride, surrounded by fellow believers, thought otherwise.
The 25-year-old guard reeled through his squad’s first-half gaffes, going through them in his head one by one. There were some bad fouls, some missed defensive rotations, some jumpers that could have gone in but rimmed out. McBride himself could not hit a shot. The Spurs, meanwhile, could not miss.
They seemingly floated in every scoop shot, nailed every 3-pointer and flushed every dunk. Over the first two quarters, they did not miss a free throw. They barely even turned it over, just twice in the first half. San Antonio was playing a perfect basketball game. But in McBride’s head, this was a good sign for the Knicks.
In an effort to decipher the proper deficit, the one he felt would be more reflective of realistic performance instead of the one the measly scoreboard projects, he dinged the Spurs for a few of their made shots. Such fiery shooting seemed unsustainable for another two quarters. He removed some more points from the lead because of the Knicks’ silly mistakes. In a moment of impromptu McBridian mathematics, he decided the lead was more like 14.
“Fourteen,” he thought. “That is doable.”
The Knicks could overcome 14. After all, they had stormed back from worse.
Just last series, they trailed the Cleveland Cavaliers by 22 points with only eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter of Game 1. Somehow, they won. Because “somehow” has been woven into the Knicks’ DNA. “Somehow” is what they do. “Somehow” is why McBride sat at his locker convincing himself that Wednesday’s first-half shellacking, one that put the Spurs up as many as 29 points, could not poison them. “Somehow,” especially after such a comeback in Game 4 of the NBA Finals that ended in a miraculous 107-106 victory, placing them just a single win away from their first championship in 53 years, is the identity of this team.
This crew of 18 players — from McBride to Jalen Brunson to OG Anunoby — never actually believes it is losing.
Not when the team is up 30 or 40 or 50 in a playoff game, as New York has been various times this spring, and not when it trails by sums that would kill anyone else. To the unenlightened, a 29-point deficit would inspire a white flag. Only with MSG magic does it produce a white knight.
In that locker room, the one whose stability has carried the Knicks to a 3-1 finals lead, McBride’s thought process is not exceptional. It is the norm.
“You don’t look at when you’re down 29 — we’ve got to win this game,” Josh Hart said. “You look at it when you’re down 29 of ‘OK, let’s get it to 20.’ There’s three minutes left in the third quarter. We’re down 18, you’re thinking, ‘Let’s get it to 10.’ In the fourth quarter, you’re like, this is winning time. Anything can happen. And when you have a group of guys that do that — it starts with (president) Leon (Rose), (executive VP William Wesley) — and (head coach) Mike (Brown) is the same — and it just trickles down.”
At halftime, Brown did not bother to show any film from the first two quarters. Normally, a head coach would guide the players through a few clips. On Wednesday, he let them be.
“There really wasn’t much to be said at that point,” Brunson said. “Just we need to chip away, hit singles.”
A few of the players discussed how San Antonio’s hot shooting could not continue. Assistant coach Darren Erman, a holdover from Tom Thibodeau’s staff who was around for last season’s run to the Eastern Conference finals, reminded some of the guys about the first two games of their 2025 series against the Boston Celtics.
The Knicks fell down 20 points in each of those. They won both and eventually upset the defending-champion Celtics in six games.
But those comebacks against Boston have nothing on these. The Celtics bricked shot after shot. As they cooled, the Knicks stumbled in the right direction. But the ones against Cleveland and now San Antonio have been stampedes, laced with brilliance from Brunson, fourth-quarter fallaways from Karl-Anthony Towns and heroics from Anunoby.
Anunoby’s cape flashes in unexpected moments, when he skies for LeBron James-esque transition blocks, when the basketball just kind of finds him and he splashes in 3-pointers or, of course, when he scrambles into the paint for the greatest tip-in in finals history.
The Knicks did not know Game 4 would end this way. They figured the Spurs’ shooting would collapse but not to this degree. They did not predict that Anunoby would nail seven 3-pointers, that splicing Jose Alvarado into a lineup with Brunson would bewitch the opponent, that De’Aaron Fox would attempt the most ill-advised layup imaginable, that San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama’s legs would move without any vigor over the last quarter of a 44-minute trudge.
They did not anticipate any of the details. They just knew what McBride and the rest of the team told themselves: That pulling off the largest comeback in NBA Finals history would be just another night at the office.
By Fred Katz, via The Athletic