OG Anunoby made five 3-pointers and scored 28 points and the New York Knicks rallied in the fourth quarter to beat the San Antonio Spurs 124-113 and win the NBA Cup in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
NBA Cup MVP Jalen Brunson recorded 25 points and eight assists as the Knicks won their sixth straight game and 10th in their past 11 — though the tournament final doesn’t count toward the regular-season standings and stats.
The Knicks overcame an 11-point third-quarter deficit.
“We found a way to win, that’s it,” Brunson said. “That should be our motto the rest of the way — we’re going to find a way.”
New York’s Karl-Anthony Towns had 16 points and 11 rebounds despite missing 12-plus minutes due to a left calf issue. Jordan Clarkson scored 15 points and fellow reserve Mitchell Robinson grabbed 15 rebounds (10 on the offensive glass) for the Knicks.
“Anytime you can participate in any event where you’re the last one standing and you’re able to hang a banner, you take that seriously,” New York coach Mike Brown said. “And all of our guys took that seriously.”
San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama scored 18 points off the bench while being limited to 25 minutes in his second contest after missing 12 straight games due to a calf injury.
Dylan Harper scored a team-high 21 points off the bench for the Spurs, who unofficially lost for just the fourth time in the past 14 games. San Antonio made just 5 of 19 shots (26.3%) in the fourth quarter while being outscored 35-19.
De’Aaron Fox had 16 points and nine assists, Stephon Castle registered 15 points and 12 assists and Luke Kornet added 14 points for the Spurs.
Noting that his team had its entire squad available for just the second time all season, San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson said, “When we played with appropriate pace, with the right spacing and right tempo, we got some really good looks and then we missed some. It was probably more of a team thing. I thought Victor was individually struggling.”
New York shot 46.7% from the field, including 15 of 40 (37.5%) from 3-point range.
The Spurs made 41.4% of their field-goal attempts and hit 14 of 39 (35.9%) from behind the arc.
The Knicks scored the first eight points and 11 of 12 to start the fourth quarter to turn a five-point deficit into a 100-95 lead. Clarkson hit two 3-pointers and Anunoby sank one during the spurt.
Towns returned to the floor with 4:49 left — the same time Wembanyama subbed back in — with New York again leading by five.
Nearly two minutes later, Josh Hart drained a 3-pointer to give the Knicks a 115-107 advantage.
After Harper nailed a 3-pointer with 2:42 left, Anunoby swished a trey from the corner to put New York back ahead by eight with 1:56 to play.
Tyler Kolek later scored four straight points as the Knicks pushed the lead to 12 while closing it out.
Fox hit a jumper with 7.1 seconds left in the first half to give the Spurs a 61-59 lead at the break.
Devin Vassell scored 12 first-half points to lead San Antonio. Anunoby scored 20 points and Brunson had 15 in the half for the Knicks.
Wembanyama poured in 12 points in the third quarter to help the Spurs lead by as many as 11 points in the period.
The Spurs led 94-89 entering the final stanza.
“I’m feeling very frustrated that we lost the game,” Johnson said. “I’m also feeling that after 25 games we’ve shown signs that we can be a pretty good team and we’ve also shown that we have a lot of areas for improvement.”
–Field Level Media
