Knicks' consistently strong fourth-quarter play has them on brink of history

The New York Knicks were on the verge of leaving Madison Square Garden winless in their two home Finals matchups — that was until the fourth quarter. 

The San Antonio Spurs held a 29-point lead during the third quarter. With 9:33 left in Game 4, the Knicks were down 95-75. From that point on, the Knicks went on a blistering 32-11 run to take Game 4, 107-106, from the Spurs. 

It was similar to Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, where the Knicks trailed 93-71 with 7:52 left before a 36-11 run propelled them to victory in overtime. 

In both cases, the Knicks were able to overcome 20-plus-point deficits with less than 10 minutes to play, unwriting what was written over the past 35 to 40 minutes. They proved that nothing matters until the final buzzer.

What happened to San Antonio?

On Wednesday night, the Spurs set an NBA Finals record, connecting on 14 first-half three-pointers. As a team, the Spurs shot 59% from the field en route to 76 first-half points. 

Those 14 three-pointers came efficiently as the Spurs were 14-of-26 from downtown. Devin Vassell, Dylan Harper and De'Aaron Fox combined to hit 10-of-12 from deep in the first half. The Spurs couldn't miss. 

That was, of course, until the second half. The Spurs of the first half had left the building, and their shooting touch was gone. 

In the second half, the Spurs shot 8-of-39 from the floor and were only able to connect with three of their 17 attempted threes. 

Vassell and Fox were each 1-of-4 in the second half, while Harper missed his three attempts. The fourth quarter saw the Spurs shoot 4-19 while only scoring 16 points. 

It was an all-time collapse by the Spurs, showing that a historic first half can be wiped away by an exceptionally poor second half. 

Knicks' fourth-quarter heroes

While the Spurs were trying to figure out how to score again, the Knicks had begun their comeback. 

The fourth quarter saw the biggest New York contributions from three players: Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby and Jose Alvarado. The three Knicks shot 9-of-12 in the fourth quarter as well as 5-of-6 from three. 

The fourth has been a comfortable place for the Knicks this season and especially for Brunson. He's shot 49.7% from the field and 39.8% from three in the fourth quarter, both the highest among all four quarters. 

In the Finals, Brunson is averaging 10.3 fourth-quarter points, the most among players with at least four finals games played. 

The fourth quarter has proved to be the most important for Brunson. In this playoff run, Brunson has averaged 27.4 points per game, and 9.5 of those points are coming in the final quarter. 

In the first three quarters, he's scoring 20.2 points on 43.1% shooting. The fourth quarter has seen a rise to 55.4% shooting for Brunson. 

Brunson is stepping up for the Knicks and leaving his mark on the game in the fourth quarter. 

Knicks are on the brink of history

With their surprising comeback, the Knicks sit just one game away from breaking their 53-year title drought. 

In Game 5, ideally the Knicks would get off to a better start. In the first four games of the series, the Spurs led after the first quarter by an average of 11.75 points. 

Where you don't want to see the Knicks change is how they play late into games: scoring 25.5 points per game in the final quarter and only allowing 21 points. 

The Knicks have the recipe for success to win this series as long as they keep sticking to what got them to this point.