Following the Knicks’ incredible comeback in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, two questions emerged from New York’s 107-106 win over the Spurs.
First, what was Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox thinking going for a layup in the waning seconds with his team up one? (We will get to that later.) And second, was OG Anunoby‘s block a foul?
On that second point, you’d think it was a blatant foul if you follow Spurs Twitter, Reddit and message boards. A subsection of Spurs fans are convinced Anunoby fouled Fox on the layup attempt. It wasn’t called such during the game and it wound up costing San Antonio a chance to survive their 29-point collapse.
Well, the NBA’s last two minutes report on Game 4 came out Thursday evening and revealed that the call on the court was correct.
“Anunoby makes a legal attempt to block Fox’s shot and dislodges the ball from his control before making incidental arm contact,” the report read.
Now, on Fox’s reason for the layup attempt.
With the Spurs up one with 20 seconds to go, Jalen Brunson’s shot attempt went too high off the glass and a footrace for the ball ensued. Fox used his impressive speed to track down the ball with about 11 seconds to go. Instead of holding the ball and letting the Knicks foul him to go to the free throw line, Fox went up for the dagger and was denied.
“I just thought I’d be able to outrun him,” Fox told reporters, including The Athletic’s Sam Amick, after the game. “That’s it.”
Anunoby’s block kept the Knicks deficit at one point, and allowed the forward to tip-in a Brunson miss in the next possession to give New York the lead and, ultimately, the win.
Fox was asked why he made the choice he did and the 28-year-old explained himself, and ultimately gave credit to Anunoby.
“Try to get a layup, get up three and force them to need a three,” Fox said. “OG made a good block.”
The play will now go down in NBA Finals/Spurs infamy, especially if San Antonio is unable to bounce back. They’ll try to stave off elimination in Game 5 on Saturday and try to even up the series back at MSG on Tuesday.
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