Was OG Anunoby’s Game 4 tip-in the most iconic shot in Knicks history?

NEW YORK — It was just a fingertip, a redirection, a deflection. But to New York Knicks coach Mike Brown, it was the greatest shot ever taken in the basketball capital of the world.

Brown was, of course, talking about OG Anunoby’s putback with 1.2 seconds left in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday night, a shot that gave the Knicks a stunning 107-106 victory over the San Antonio Spurs after trailing by 29 points in the second half.

“I don’t know if there was a play bigger than any other play in the history of Knicks basketball,” Brown began, later adding: “That has to be the most iconic shot in the history of New York basketball.

“I’m not you guys. You guys know better than me. But it was just unbelievable,” Brown said.

Well, ummm, yeah, we got nothin’ that tops it.

“It feels cool,” Anunoby said. “I mean, everyone’s pretty excited. I’m excited, too.”

Anunoby scored 33 points and made seven 3s. He was the inbounds passer on the Knicks’ final possession, throwing it to Jalen Brunson, who took and missed a 3. Anunoby crashed the rim hard and wasn’t touched. He went past star Victor Wembanyama and appeared to outjump Spurs rookie Dylan Harper for Brunson’s miss, guiding it into the hoop.

“He got a pretty good look and I just went and crashed,” Anunoby said. “Tried to get a tip-dunk or something. The ball went over my head, so I couldn’t really dunk it. So I tried to tip it in softly and it went in.”

Harper said Brunson’s shot “bounce(d) off the rim the right way. He tipped it in the right way. It went in. I could play ‘wish I could have did this, wish I could have did that,’” Harper said. “But at the end of the day, he tipped the ball and it went in the rim.

“I definitely thought I had a hand on it. I definitely think I helped put the ball in the rim. But just got to box out.”

As for Browns’ claim about where Anunoby’s tip-in ranks in Knicks lore … again, it would be hard to find a suitor, given the stakes. Larry Johnson had a four-point play near the end of Game 3 of the conference finals against Indiana in 1999 to produce a one-point win.

Allan Houston’s bouncing ball at the end of Game 5 of a first-round series against Miami in 1999 won it for the No. 8 Knicks. So it took two iconic shots for the Knicks to get to the finals that year.

Willis Reed’s jumpers to start Game 5 of the 1970 finals were huge because he had to limp out of the tunnel to take them.

But this one, from Anunoby, who is the only player on the roster with a championship ring, probably tops them all. The perfect capper to a 29-point comeback, the biggest in NBA Finals history, to put the Knicks just one win away from a title.

“We’re enjoying it right now. But we’re just focused on the next game now,” Anunoby said.

Speak for yourself, OG. The rest of us will be talking about his tip-in for quite a while.