After ending New York’s title drought, Karl-Anthony Towns reveals how the Spurs' defensive mindset and youthful hesitation allowed the Knicks to erase a historic 29-point deficit.
NEW YORK - If the San Antonio Spurs hold on and don't blow a 29-point lead in Game 4 of the NBA Finals ... perhaps the New York Knicks don't break their 53-year title drought.
The series would've been knotted at two apiece heading back to San Antonio ... but you knew that already.
It's been 40 days since New York hoisted the Larry O'Brien trophy, and while Spurs fans are probably tired of hearing about "what could've been," they haven't received too many answers as to "why."
Sure, we as watchers of the sport can come up with our own analysis of what went wrong ... De'Aaron Fox ... Mitch Johnson ... lack of experience ... etc.
But what about the perspective from someone who not only witnessed — but directly benefited from — the collapse?
On a recent episode of The New York Times' podcast "The Interview," Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns revealed what he believes fueled New York's comeback after trailing by 29 points.
“I think sometimes when you’re a young team you look to not lose the game, and we were looking to win the game," Towns told host Andrew Keh. "That’s what made us bring such aggression to the game and I think they were just trying to protect the lead.”
The Spurs struggled with late-game consistency throughout the entire series, resulting in the first instance in NBA history where a team dropped the Finals in just five games despite leading by 10 or more in every contest.
Still ... everything changed during Game 4 at The Garden.
And now San Antonio is again being publicly informed, from New York's standpoint, what went into the historic comeback.
"They're hitting shots. We're not hitting many shots. They're executing at a higher level. We weren't. They were bringing more physicality to the game than us, and we weren't," Towns continued. "So we had to take our game to another level and amplify ourselves. In the face of adversity, we found ourselves finding our best version in the second half."
When faced with similar levels of adversity, the Spurs crumbled.
But that's okay — for now.
Victor Wembanyama and San Antonio's young core are still just that: young.
They were in the draft lottery just over a year ago. The Spurs franchise and culture may have strong reputations of winning, but it takes time for that sort of historical context to rub off on inexperienced NBA players.
If Towns is right, the Spurs didn't lose because they lacked talent. They lost because they stopped playing to win.
That's a lesson every championship contender eventually has to learn ... and if San Antonio does ... don't expect it to keep letting double-digit leads slip away.
