The bad vibes lifted, and basketball fans witnessed a miracle at Madison Square Garden.
A general view inside Madison Square Garden as the New York Knicks celebrate their 107–106 victory against the San Antonio Spurs in Game Four of the 2026 NBA Finals on June 10, 2026 in New York City.
(Dustin Satloff / Getty Images)
Before Wednesday night’s NBA Finals game between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs, one fan burned sage outside of New York City’s Madison Square Garden. He was performing this ancient rite to remove the sulfuric stench and potentially season-wrecking bad vibes caused by President Donald Trump’s deeply unwanted and very sleepy presence at Monday night’s Game 3 of the best-of-seven series.
For the first half of Game 4, it looked like the cleansing ritual was in vain. The odious Trump odor was still in the air, as the Knicks went down by 29 points in the third quarter. The stank was real, less because of the repugnant memory of him smirking and saluting as the boos rained down upon him during the national anthem, but more so because the New York City police insisted upon keeping up the Trump security fence that has turned the area around Madison Square Garden into a dystopian police state. Even without the president there, it took hours to enter the arena, bags were banned, and a TSA style rub-down was required before entry.
Folks may understandably not weep for the finance and celebrity class who could afford the tickets, but the Knicks’ grotesquerie of an owner, James Dolan, also canceled the watch parties outside MSG that had electrified the city. The landscape outside the arena would be barren: from a showcase of unbridled humanity to a postapocalyptic wasteland. Dolan’s decision was only announced a few hours before the game and led to a public spat between Dolan and Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Again, the focus before tip-off was on so many things that had nothing to do with the game itself.
Maybe the sage was slow acting, or perhaps this New York team is just that special, because the political hangover finally subsided and the aroma turned sweet as the Knicks engineered the greatest comeback in the history of the NBA Finals, and perhaps, given the stakes, the greatest comeback in the history of professional sports.
The young and callow Spurs held an 81–52 lead before the game ended improbably with a Knicks 107–106 victory. That means the Knicks ended the game on a 55–25 run. The Knicks won thanks to a sequence that will never be forgotten: Forward OG Anunoby first blocked what could have been a game-clinching layup by Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox with 14 seconds to go and then, sprinting for 30 feet and jumping so high his hand was 13 feet in the air, he tipped in the winning shot with one second to play. There will be statues of that tip-in, and they’re probably already being sculpted. Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson was also relentless, even when it looked like they were out of the game, and scored 36 points.
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The Knicks looked like they were cooked. But they are never really out of any contest because they have repeatedly shown that they’d sooner pass out on the court than concede a loss. Here is your mind-blowing statistic about this team: They are 5–3 over the last two post-seasons in games when they have been down by 20 points. The rest of the league? 4–71.
There will be endless debates about whether the Knicks won the game or the Spurs just choked it away. The Spurs scored 76 points in the first half and only 30 in the second—the second-highest point differential by a team per half in NBA history. The Spurs also, again incredibly, had more turnovers than baskets in the third and fourth quarters. But wherever you fall—it’s clearly a combination of both—the Knicks never gave up and that needs to be the lead story before anyone criticizes the Spurs.
As the fans are saying on the street and across social media, “My Mayor is Muslim, My Bagel Is Jewish; Trump Tried to Kill The Vibe. Knicks in Five.” For that to happen, the Knicks have to go to San Antonio on Saturday, close it out, and win this city’s first title in 53 years. If they lose this weekend, it’s back to New York for Game 6. Either way, if the Knicks can stick the landing and win the title, Wednesday night’s game will be cemented in sports lore for as long as people play and watch professional sports. New York is now alight in royal blue and orange. This is “the city game,” and the city is letting the world, after 53 years, know it.
With the midterm elections now firmly upon us, the question is whether Democratic candidates will do more than merely occupy ballot lines as mild alternatives to the red-hot crisis that is Donald Trump.
As Trump spends over $1 billion a day on a globally destabilizing war on Iran and admits that he doesn’t “think about Americans’ financial situation,” millions across the country are struggling with the surging costs of essentials. Democrats must seize this moment and advance bold, small-“d” populist ideas—not settle for cynical caution that once again snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.
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Onward,
Katrina vanden Huevel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation
