Sports
After epic comeback, Knicks head to San Antonio on brink of NBA title
Jun 10, 2026; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) reacts during the fourth quarter of game four of the 2026 NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs now own the worst collapse in NBA Finals history, but they refuse to be counted out yet.
While the New York Knicks look to clinch their first NBA title since 1973, the Spurs aim to stay alive in the best-of-seven series when they host Game 5 on Saturday night.
New York holds a 3-1 lead after overcoming a 29-point deficit in Game 4 and notching a 107-106 victory over the crestfallen Spurs.
“The games that we’re losing have all been close games,” San Antonio point guard De’Aaron Fox said Friday. “We still have that belief that we have a chance to win. But we’re taking this one game at a time.
“We’re not looking at it as we need to win three games. We need to win tomorrow and then we give ourselves a chance to play another game.”
The Knicks won 105-95 and 105-104 in San Antonio to open the series. The Spurs recorded a 115-111 win in New York in Game 3 before the stunning meltdown Wednesday. The previous largest documented comeback in an NBA Finals game was 24 by the Boston Celtics over the Los Angeles Lakers in 2008.
San Antonio led by 20 with 9:33 left in the game. Five minutes later, its lead was just four. New York finished off the comeback with OG Anunoby’s stellar tip-in with 2.1 seconds remaining.
Knicks coach Mike Brown is setting aside all the feel-good moments as his club endeavors to end the 53-year title drought. He rates trying to close out the Finals in a Game 5 at San Antonio as a tough chore.
“It’s going to be hard,” Brown said. “San Antonio’s a great team. They’re desperate. I still think they believe. It’s going to be hard for us.”
Knicks star guard Jalen Brunson hasn’t forgotten his team was down 29 in Game 4. Otherwise, he’s only looking ahead.
“I’ve always told myself when you wake up the next day, it’s time to turn the page,” Brunson said. “Yes, we won, but we still have a lot of work to do. We have a lot to learn. We didn’t play our best basketball. We still have a lot to revisit to make sure that we don’t really put ourselves in that position again.”
Brunson recorded 36 points and seven assists in Game 4 and has scored 30 points or more three times in the series.
Anunoby established career postseason bests of seven 3-pointers and 33 points to go with the tip-in that is already etched in Knicks’ lore.
“Everyone has been telling me how much it means, and obviously I can see how much it means,” Anunoby said. “It’s just really cool to be a part of it, and I’m very grateful.”
Victor Wembanyama recorded 24 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots but was just 9-of-25 shooting in Game 4. He has scored at least 24 points in each game but is shooting just 43.5% from the field in the series.
Only one team has overcome a 3-1 series deficit to win the NBA title. That was the LeBron James-led 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers who recovered to beat a Golden State Warriors’ squad that won 73 regular-season games.
Wembanyama insists San Antonio can equal that feat. After all, the Spurs had a chance to win each of the first four games.
“Harder than any other game before, by far, for sure,” Wembanyama said of shaking off the Game 4 loss. “I mean, now we’re over it. It’s the playoffs. There’s no time to regret things for too long.”
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson knows a big opportunity was missed as his club scored just 30 second-half points after pouring in 76 in the first half. But he refuses to get buried in what-if thinking.
“There’s no avoiding what’s happened,” Johnson said. “There’s no avoiding all four games have been winnable games. There’s no avoiding we’re down 3-1. There’s no avoiding ways that we could be better.
“There’s nobody that’s going to be harder on ourselves and accountable to ourselves than the people in the locker room and each other. That’s what helped us get to where we are, and how the group is built.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
BetBoom, 9z, FURIA, Spirit win again at IEM Cologne Stage 3
Nov 5, 2022; San Francisco, California, USA; Fans do the wave between games of the League of Legends World Championships between T1 and DRX at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images BetBoom Team and 9z Team continued their torrid runs at the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne Major, joined by FURIA and Team Spirit in winning their Round 2 High matches on Friday in Germany.
BetBoom — who’ve battled all the way from Stage 1 to make it this far — upset Team Falcons 2-0, and 9z Team, who entered the tournament in Stage 2, beat Team Vitality 2-1.
BetBoom’s next opponent will be FURIA, who outlasted MOUZ 2-1 on Friday, while 9z will take on Team Spirit, who rallied 2-1 over Aurora Gaming.
Sixteen teams are still standing at the Counter-Strike 2 tournament that began with 32 entrants, competing for their share of a $1.25 million prize pool with the grand final scheduled for June 21. The champion receives $500,000.
Stage 3 utilizes a Swiss System format and all matches are best-of-three. The top eight finishers will proceed to the playoffs next week.
On Friday, BetBoom scored the only 2-0 win of the High matches by gritting out a 13-11 victory on Nuke and a 13-10 result on Ancient to stymie the Falcons. Kirill “Magnojez” Rodnov paced the all-Russian BetBoom squad with 47 kills and a 1.80 match rating.
Meanwhile, 9z lost to Vitality 13-4 on Inferno before bouncing back 13-9 on Mirage and 13-11 on Dust II. Ignacio “meyern” Meyer of Argentina carried 9z with 46 kills and the team’s only positive kills-deaths differential (46-39).
FURIA sandwiched a 13-5 victory on Nuke and a 13-7 win on Overpass around MOUZ’s 13-5 result on Inferno. FURIA relied on a match-high 56 kills from Kazakhstan’s Danil “molodoy” Golubenko.
Spirit fell 13-9 to Aurora on Dust II before drubbing their opponents 13-4 on Anubis and 13-5 on Nuke. Russian Danil “donk” Kryshkovets (46 kills), Belarusian Andrey “tN1R” Tatarinovich (44) and Russian Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov (43) led a balanced Spirit attack.
The four winners of the Round 2 Low matches move into the Mid matches for Round 3, while the losers will have to play win-or-go-home Round 3 Low matches.
The MongolZ blanked B8 2-0, Natus Vincere did the same against Legacy, Monte charged back to beat PARIVISION 2-1 and G2 Esports defeated FUT Esports 2-1.
Stage 3 continues Saturday with eight matches:
Round 3 High matches
–Team Spirit vs. 9z Team
–BetBoom Team vs. FURIA
Round 3 Mid matches
–Natus Vincere vs. The MongolZ
–Team Falcons vs. Monte
–Aurora Gaming vs. G2 Esports
–Team Vitality vs. MOUZ
Round 3 Low matches
–B8 vs. FUT Esports
–PARIVISION vs. Legacy
Intel Extreme Masters Cologne Major prize pool
1. $500,000
2. $170,000
3-4. $80,000
5-8. $45,000
9-11. $15,000
12-14. $15,000
15-16. $15,000
17-19. $10,000 — paiN Gaming, TYLOO, BIG
20-22. $10,000 — MIBR, M80, Astralis
23-24. $10,000 — GamerLegion, FlyQuest
25-27. $5,000 — Lynn Vision Gaming, NRG, Team Liquid
28-30. $5,000 — THUNDERdOWNUNDER, Sharks Esports, HEROIC
31-32. $5,000 — Gaimin Gladiators, SINNERS Esports
–Field Level Media
Sports
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani (knee) not in lineup vs. White Sox
Jun 11, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) advances to third base on a hit and run against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the fourth inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images Although Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts downplayed the severity of the left knee inflammation that caused Shohei Ohtani to be removed from Thursday’s game, the Dodgers star is missing from the lineup for Friday’s series opener at the Chicago White Sox.
Ohtani, who homered and reached four times in four plate appearances in Thursday’s 8-6 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, was removed in the seventh inning after he experienced pain in his left knee/hamstring area on a stolen base attempt that was negated by a foul ball.
After the game, Roberts said the removal was precautionary and that his level of concern was “not high.”
“We tried to be smart about it and get him out of the game,” Roberts said after the game. “He told the trainer that he felt a little something behind his knee, and I just didn’t see any sense in risking it.”
Roberts also said Thursday that he felt good about the likelihood of Ohtani being in the lineup on Friday. But the Dodgers penciled in Santiago Espinal as their designated hitter for the Chicago opener.
Ohtani, 31, is hitting .305 with 13 homers and 40 RBIs this season, with a 6-2 record and a 1.06 ERA in 11 starts on the mound.
The four-time MVP (including each of the last three seasons) has a career .283 batting average with 293 homers and 709 RBIs across 1,081 games with the Los Angeles Angels (2018-23) and Dodgers (2024-26).
–Field Level Media
Sports
Canada rally for draw vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina in home World Cup opener
June 12, 2026; Toronto, Canada; Canada’s Cyle Larin celebrates scoring their first goal with teammates as Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Tarik Muharemovic looks dejected. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images Cyle Larin scored in the 78th minute as Canada salvaged a 1-1 draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina in their opening match in Group B play Friday in Toronto.
Jovo Lukic scored in the 21st minute for Bosnia and Herzegovina, who were playing their first World Cup match since being eliminated from group play in the 2014 event at Brazil.
Maxime Crepeau had two saves for Canada, who entered the match with an 0-6-0 record in two World Cup appearances (1986, 2022).
Nikola Vasilj had one save for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Switzerland and Qatar, who are also in Group B, open against each other on Saturday afternoon. Either team could move atop the group with a win after Canada and Bosnia and Herzegovina each secured one point.
Bosnia and Herzegovina took the lead off a left-footed corner kick from Ivan Basic, which he fired to the goal mouth.
Sead Kolasinac flicked a header on for the 6-foot-4 Lukic, who was checked from behind by a smaller defender as he headed his shot from 2 yards out for the first goal of his international career.
To that point, Bosnia and Herzegovina had controlled the play with their size and physicality. But as the match wore on, the quicker Canadiens appeared better suited to the heat.
Canada had the better of the play for the rest of the first half but had difficulty putting shots on frame and creating quality chances.
Early in the second half, both teams had excellent chances to score. Canada’s opportunity came first as Stephen Eustaquio fed Richie Laryea, who was free on the left side of the box.
Laryea’s right-footed shot beat a diving Vasilj, but Bosnia and Herzegovina defender Kolasinac kicked the ball in desperation. It went off the crossbar and caromed high to safety.
Less than a minute later, Ermedin Demirovic broke free and ran down a throughball, but Crepeau bolted from the goal area and disrupted Demirovic’s attempt with an aggressive slide.
Canada got the equalizer as Promise David flicked a pass forward to Larin, who was just inside the middle of the box.
Larin, who had been subbed on just two minutes earlier, spun and fired a right-footed blast into the lower-right corner.
In the final minute of stoppage time, Canada got one last try as Laryea found Larin in the middle of the box but as he shot, defender Tarik Muharemovic smothered the attempt and cleared it from the box.
–Field Level Media
BetBoom, 9z, FURIA, Spirit win again at IEM Cologne Stage 3
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani (knee) not in lineup vs. White Sox
