Data story · NBA Playoffs
The 2026 NBA Finals, game by game.
The New York Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs in five games for their first championship since 1973, and they trailed by at least 9 points in every game they won. Game 4, from 29 down, is the biggest comeback by any Finals winner in sixteen years of data.
Every strip on this page is a real NBA Playoffs strip from the Huezle app, drawn by the app’s own code. More about NBA Playoffs.
How to read the strips
Each strip is one game, left to right from tip-off to the final buzzer, one band per minute. A band is purple when the away team led at the end of that minute, gold when the home team led, and pale when it was close or tied. The colour is full at an 18-point lead.
San Antonio had home court, so in Games 1, 2 and 5 gold means Spurs ahead and purple means Knicks ahead. Games 3 and 4 were in New York, where the colours swap. The away team won four of the five games.
Game 4: from 29 down
- Away Leading
- Tied
- Home Leading
San Antonio led by 29 at the 21st minute and by 27 at halftime. The Knicks were still 15 behind after three quarters, closed the gap through the fourth and went ahead in the 47th minute, winning 107–106. A 29-point deficit at a minute mark is 13 points more than any other Finals winner overcame in this data, and it ties for the largest in all 1,339 playoff games in it; the biggest NBA playoff comebacks has the rest.
The other four games
- G1 · NYK 105–95
- G2 · NYK 105–104
- G3 · SAS 115–111
- G5 · NYK 94–90
- Away Leading
- Tied
- Home Leading
In Game 1 the Spurs led by 13 early in the third quarter; it was level after three, and the Knicks went ahead for good in the 47th minute. Game 2 ran the other way: San Antonio up 9 after the first quarter, New York ahead from the 24th minute, and the Spurs closing to one point at the buzzer. San Antonio’s one win, Game 3 in New York, is mostly purple because the Spurs were the away team that night: they were ahead at 38 of 48 minute marks. Game 5 was a Spurs lead of 16 in the second quarter and still 10 with eight minutes left, before New York went ahead in the 45th minute.
How the Spurs got there
- Away Leading
- Tied
- Home Leading
The conference finals could not have looked less alike. New York swept Cleveland, finishing with a 37-point win. San Antonio needed seven games against the defending champions and won the last of them on the road.
Behind in every win. The Knicks trailed by 13 in Game 1, 9 in Game 2, 29 in Game 4 and 16 in Game 5, counting the score at the end of each minute. Over the five games they outscored San Antonio by only 12 points, 522 to 510.
For the year before, see the 2025 Finals; for the whole era, the NBA Finals since 2011.
Huezle shows you one playoff strip at a time. Could you pick out a 29-point comeback?
Download on the App StoreFree on iPhoneQuestions
Who won the 2026 NBA Finals?
The New York Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs 4–1, winning Game 5 94–90 in San Antonio. It was the Knicks’ first championship since 1973.
How big was the Knicks’ comeback in Game 4 of the 2026 Finals?
San Antonio led by 29 at the end of the 21st minute and by 27 at halftime. New York took the lead in the 47th minute and won 107–106.
Who did the Knicks and Spurs beat to reach the 2026 Finals?
New York swept the Cleveland Cavaliers 4–0 in the Eastern Conference finals. San Antonio beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 4–3 in the West, winning Game 7 111–103 in Oklahoma City.
More guides
- The 2025 NBA Finals, game by game.The 2025 NBA Finals as minute-by-minute strips: Indiana’s last-second Game 1, the trade of wins, and Oklahoma City’s Game 7.
- The NBA Finals since 2011, in five strips.Sixteen NBA Finals from 2011 to 2026 in five minute-by-minute strips: the Heat years, Warriors against Cavaliers, and a run of new champions.
- NBA tip-off trivia: last postseason, minute by minute.The 2026 NBA playoffs as strips of colour before the new season: the Knicks’ 29-point Finals comeback, a 61-point lead, a road Game 7 and a double overtime.
- Every NBA Finals Game 7 since 2011.The three NBA Finals that went to Game 7 since 2011 — Heat v Spurs 2013, Cavaliers v Warriors 2016, Thunder v Pacers 2025 — drawn as minute-by-minute strips.
Now try naming one yourself.
Huezle is free on iPhone. A new puzzle every day, four categories free forever, and no account, ads or timer.