Victor Wembanyama Must Be the Hero After Historic Spurs Collapse

A loss unlike anyone has ever seen in an NBA Finals game sends the San Antonio Spurs back to the Alamo City limping after a heartbreaking loss to the New York Knicks in Game 4 for the NBA Finals.

No team had ever erased a deficit as large as the 29-point lead held by the Spurs in NBA Finals history until the Knicks forced a last-second 107-106 result to advance to a 3-1 series lead.

For more on the devastating collapse and what is next for San Antonio as the series returns home for Game 5, Spurs Roundtable writer Nick Teague has the recap.

The Spurs will now chase history of their own, looking to become only the second NBA franchise to come back from a 3-1 series hole to hoist the championship trophy. The only team to ever accomplish the feat was the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers squad, which overcame a 3-1 Finals deficit to beat the Golden State Warriors.

Star players LeBron James and Kyrie Irving rallied to upset the Warriors after Golden State finished the regular season with a shocking 73-9 record.

San Antonio will need star player Victor Wembanyama to rise to the occasion much like the 2016 Cavs stars did in order to finish the series undefeated if the Spurs have any hope of achieving the unexpected.

The Spurs have kept games in reach as of late. They stormed toward a late-game surge in Game 3 to get their first Finals victory and were one uncanny late-game decision from De'Aaron Fox away from heading to the free throw line with a chance to ice their advantage in the closing 20 seconds of Game 4. Therefore, the idea of another Spurs win isn't far from reality.

But it will take a special kind of magic in order to pull off three consecutive victories against a determined Knicks team looking to capture its first NBA Championship in 53 years.

Game 5 will be hosted in San Antonio with tip-off set for 8:30 p.m. ET Saturday night, June 13.