Karl-Anthony Towns just quietly saved total Knicks collapse in less than 2 seconds

The New York Knicks just pulled off the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history on Wednesday night.

While the lion's share of attention may be on OG Anunoby and his block on one end, directly followed by a circus put-back tap-in to give them the lead during the final seconds of action, in the end, it was actually Karl-Anthony Towns who quietly saved the game.

As first observed by SB Nation's Nik Land, with Dylan Harper tossing in the rock on the final in-bounds play of the game, the defending Towns managed to get a finger on the ball when air bound, causing it to fall well short of its initial trajectory and forcing a cutting Stephon Castle to fall back in an attempt to regain possession.

In the end, the deflection prevented Castle from not only getting up what looked like a clear look at a lay-up in the final 1.2 seconds of regulation, as his primary defender, Josh Hart, was tripped up by a screening Victor Wembanyama, but also from getting up a shot entirely.

Ultimately, the Knicks held onto their 107-106 lead after clawing their way back from a 29-point deficit, and now go up 3-1 in the NBA Finals.

While the vast majority of people are looking to Anunoby as the savior of Game 4, the game was undeniably sealed thanks to Towns and his ridiculous 7-foot-3 wingspan.

Karl-Anthony Towns broke putrid fourth quarter streak in Knicks win

Coming into Wednesday night's contest, Towns found himself amid a truly abysmal stretch where he had failed to score a single point in the fourth quarter in three straight games.

This streak reached its lowest point in Game 3, when his lack of involvement on the offensive end wound up serving as one of the main catalysts in the club's first loss in over a month.

Finally, in Game 4, the lull was snapped, as Towns scored two absolutely crucial buckets that, in many ways, set the tone for the outcome of the contest.

His first came at around the 7:30 mark, when he knocked down a tough contested triple to extend New York's scoring run to 8-0. His next came roughly a minute later via a highly physical driving lay-in against Wemby to bring the Knicks to within a 10-point margin for the first time since the first period.

Add this to his two boards, one assist (led to Jalen Brunson bringing their deficit to within seven points), and his game-saving in-bounds deflection, and it should come as no shock that the All-Star finished the final quarter with the highest plus-minus of all players at plus-21.

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