OG Anunoby and the New York Knicks, as well as the San Antonio Spurs, will address the media Friday after Game 4’s historic comeback.
The San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks met with the press today ahead of Game 5 of the 2026 NBA Finals, which is scheduled to be broadcast Saturday, June 13 at 8:30 ET on ABC.
Catch up on the best quotes and moments from the fifth Media Day of the Finals with the NBA.com live blog.
What we know about Friday’s Media Day:
JUNE 12 / 3:15 ET
Coach Mike Brown speaks
On the group’s ability to lock in in series-deciding games…
“Their level of maturity. Obviously, we have some veteran guys, but you can be a veteran and still have a little bit of immaturity about you, as we all know. But from top to bottom, this group is pretty mature, even though a lot of them are veteran guys, and that rubs off on the rest of the group.”
On how the team stays focused…
“You have to stay focused. It’s about the process — the next play, the next play, the next play… When you’re playing against other great teams, that’s how you’ve got to take it, because anyone’s mind can start wandering when you’re thinking about the outcome.”
On the difficulty of staying desperate after a game like Game 4…
“It is hard. We’re all human, and it was hard even in the series that we swept. You win two, three, four, five games in a row, and there’s a tendency to relax a bit, and that’s just in life…
“Trying to manufacture things to help guys lock in… Having Pat Ewing’s presence around, so he can talk to guys to continue to help them lock in from a different vantage point, is all huge for us to do, especially during this time, and coming off a win like the last game.”
On how he feels about Landry Shamet’s journey to this moment…
“That’s the best feeling in the world, to see somebody that deserves an opportunity and maybe gets passed over, passed over, passed over, and now on one of the biggest stages in his… craft, he steps up and show the world ‘no, I can do this.’
“It makes you feel really, really good to see that, because he went and he earned it. You have a lot of role models in life… but you can take a guy like Landry Shamet’s story as a young player, or even someone in the work field… and understand that you might get passed over for that promotion six straight times, but if you stay with it, stay with it, believe, believe, grind, grind, now when that opportunity’s there, and the right situation is there for you, it’s time for you to shine, and that’s what he’s doing.
“It’s bigger than basketball, what he’s doing. It’s a great life lesson for others.”
JUNE 12 / 2:50 ET
Josh Hart speaks
On not always putting up huge stats…
“Coach (Jay) Wright did a really good job of emphasizing that competitive will — making the plays that go beyond the box score, and I think you see it with a lot of Villanova guys in the league… I think it really started at ‘Nova, and when you do something for four years, it sticks with you.”
On dominating previous closeout games and reacting to the Spurs’ success in the first quarter…
“We’ve got to make sure we come in focus, with a great attention to detail, and take things a possession at a time. We know if we do that, and we play our style of basketball, we’re going to put ourselves in a good position to be successful. But we can’t keep getting into a hole and try to dig ourselves out… We were fortunate to do that last game, actually all three of our wins, but we’ve got to do a better job of starting things off.”
On looking back on his tenure with the Knicks..
“I’ve been the league for nine years. I had a lot of instability before I got here, in those 6.5 years or whatever it was, I had six head coaches, three different teams… I was looking for a home and stability, and I found that in New York, first with Thibs (Tom Thibodeau) and now with Mike (Brown).
“I think the city really embraced me — my style of play, me as a person. When you do that, you feel like you’re able to go out there and play your best. The city is built on toughness, grit — blue-collar people, and I feel like I’m the same person. They can look in the mirror, they can see myself, because that’s how I see myself — I just happen to hoop.
“So, the stability at home in New York has been amazing, and hopefully we can keep it going.”
On offensive rebounding from the guards and wings…
Kon Knueppel asked this question.
“Sometimes, you get the cleanest looks for your best shooters off offensive rebounds. If you’re able to punish teams on the offensive glass, get extra possessions, change the momentum, that’s something that’s huge.
“For us, besides JB, and Jose, and Deuce, a lot of us are taller, stronger wings… obviously, Mitch is an amazing offensive rebounder. When you’re able to do that, get extra possessions, it increases your chances to win. It also helps negate teams like y’all that play extremely fast and kill teams in transition.”
On the importance of the camaraderie in the Knicks locker room…
“It’s been invaluable. I think you can look at the play where I missed a layup last game. I miss a layup, and we come down, we foul Wemby… and I ended up on the ground. And I was frustrated, and I was kind of down on myself, and you see JB, KAT, Jose run up to me, pick me up, you see Landry on the bench, yelling at me to get up, doing those type of things.
“When you have a team that has that kind of togetherness in the most adverse situations, that breeds championship habits and a championship team…
“When you have a team like that, man, whatever happens in a game, you feel like you can get through it.”
On reacting to a big run like the Spurs had in the first half…
“I think it gets a little easier to focus on the game plan. Most of the time, when you dig yourself into that hole, you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing, you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing… you don’t have that attention to detail.
“It allows you to stop and reset for a minute, and double down on having that focus…
“Good teams are able to steady themselves, steady the ship, and (get) back to doing what they do.”
JUNE 12 / 2:35 ET
Devin Vassell speaks
On the team’s mindset down 3-1…
“One game at a time, just one game at a time. There’s a lot of stuff that we watched in film that we feel like we can control, and we can be better at. Nothing is guaranteed, nothing is promised. But we know we at least have got one game, so we need to go 1-0, and whatever we need to do for that to happen, we’re going to do that.
“We’re all motivated. We’re all ready to go. Obviously, after the game, it’s tough and the locker room’s quiet, and we’re trying to figure out what happened and what went wrong. Fast forward 48 hours later, same goal, same mission. We feel like we’ve played them really good for the last four games, we just really haven’t been able to close out… A credit to them, but we feel like we’ve been able to control a lot of this series, and we’ve just have to figure out how to close out these games.”
On the difficulty of stopping a big run like the Knicks had…
“From the beginning of the season, we’ve hung our hat on the defensive end. When we’re not getting stops, when we’re not communicating, when we’re not doing the things that gave us a lead, everything else trickles down.”
On how long it takes to move on from Game 4 and using it as motivation…
“Thought about it that night, thought about it yesterday. Woke up today ready to go and ready to execute the game plan for the next day. I think that’s everybody’s mindset — ‘cool, we’re not going to sit here and think about what we could have done, what should have happened’… that’s not changing the result of anything.”
“At the end of the day, we’ve just got to execute the game plan, trust what the coaches have for us, and get ready to go.”
On whether the chance to make history is motivational…
“Of course, yeah, but you can’t think about that, honestly, at all, because you’ve got to start off going 1-0. You can’t look too far in the future, because there’s nothing promised for us right now. We’ve got our back against the wall. So let’s just focus on trying to go 1-0, which starts tomorrow, and from there we just try to walk it down.”
JUNE 12 / 2:25 ET
Dylan Harper speaks
On the team’s mindset going into Game 5…
“I feel like everybody took a day to relax, debrief, and hit that reset button. But we have another great opportunity to go and prove who we are as a team, so that’s the biggest focus for us, 40 hours from now.”
On memories of the 2016 NBA Finals and its example…
“I definitely watched it… My biggest takeaway was obviously the performance that LeBron, Kyrie, they put on to have that comeback. That’s probably the (earliest) series I remember.
“We always have hope. Our biggest thing in the locker room is having that belief, and having that belief and having that belief, and not letting anyone take that away from us, because that’s ultimately how we got here.”
On the difficulty of stopping a run like the Knicks had in Game 4…
“Can’t take our foot off the gas in a sense. Can’t get comfortable with a lead. It’s the NBA Finals — anything can happen, like you just saw. At the end of the day, we’ve got to stay together as a group.”
JUNE 12 / 2:06 ET
De’Aaron Fox speaks
On evaluating his and the team’s performance in Game 4…
“For us, it’s about ‘what are we going to do when we get up 10… 15. Every game we’ve had some sort of lead, and we’re down 3-1. We’ve got to figure out how to sustain those leads, and we’ve got to figure out how to finish games.”
On separating mistakes from the team’s overall belief…
“I think these games have shown we have a chance. It’s not like we’re going out and getting steamrolled… Every time we get (a) lead, it’s like that’s when the game starts. They’ve made the bigger plays down the stretch.”
On the sense of momentum heading into Game 5 and potential frustration…
“Obviously, it’s frustrating to be down, but we still have this belief, because we’ve seen it. We’ve seen it be done, that teams have come back from 3-1…
“We need to win tomorrow, and then we give ourselves a chance to win tomorrow… We’re not trying to take the easy way out, take shortcuts, we’re looking at the game tomorrow.”
On facing the Knicks’ five-out offense…
“It’s how we’re guarding. Whenever we’re doing what we’re supposed to do, we’re forcing them into tougher shots…
“Obviously, it’s a difficult thing to do over-and-over-and-over again, but when we’re… staying on top of the things we’re supposed to do, we’re making it tougher on them offensively.”
On handling the scrutiny after Game 4…
“It’s not like people have my phone number… I don’t watch those shows. It doesn’t matter. Can’t change it now, and no one’s coming up in your face, yelling at you about it.
“We’re trying to move on from that, obviously, continue to learn from the mistakes that we’ve made… We think about the next game.”
JUNE 12 / 1:56 ET
Stephon Castle speaks
On coming back from a 3-1 deficit…
“It just starts with believing first.”
On knowing the Knicks can win the title on the Spurs’ home court in Game 5…
“Our mindset coming into every game is going to be the same — trying to have short-term memory, through wins and losses. I feel like, the way we started the first half, if we would have just played like it was 0-0, instead of taking our foot of the gas… I feel like that’s what sparked their comeback.”
On the difficulty of countering a run like the Knicks’ in Game 5…
“I don’t think it’s that hard to do… Our shot selection wasn’t great, but I think it started with our defense… They were able to generate a lot of open shots… and eventually they started to fall for them.”
On balancing the Spurs being close in every game versus the Game 4 defeat…
“We’ve had a 10+ point lead in every game, so trying to stay poised throughout that, and trying to keep our foot on the gas really. Once we get those leads, we start to play a little bit differently. We have to stay aggressive, and be smart through it.”
On the importance of potentially coming back from a 3-1 deficit…
“I feel like we’ve made history all year, and we’ve proven that, with our backs against the wall, we can step up. I don’t really expect this to be any different.”
On avoiding regret looking back at this series…
“It’s definitely hard, looking back at it and thinking about what the series score could be, based on self-inflicted mistakes. But the reality of it is we’re here now, and it’s not too late to fix those mistakes. I think we can do it.”
JUNE 12 / 1:45 ET
Victor Wembanyama speaks
On what he does to get back to a 0-0 mindset…
“The same routine as usual, but even more pushed, you know? We’re at this point in the season where we can take some time in every other thing we do to put into performance. We’re at the position where we can really empty the tank.”
On what they could have done to avoid the loss…
“There were a thousand ways we could not have lost that game. But it felt like there was a time to process that and dwell on it, but not any more…
“At the same time, the general theme would be giving them less opportunities, rather than doing something incredible.”
On whether he’s focused on the Game 4 loss or the Spurs’ chances of winning all four games…
“We’re very confident… I wouldn’t say Game 4 was hard to shake off, but harder than any other game before, by far, for sure. But now we’re over it. It’s the Playoffs — there’s no time to regret things for too long.”
On whether fatigue was a factor in Game 4…
“Definitely a factor, but it’s the Playoffs — everybody’s just as tired. And it really shouldn’t be a factor in the games. Now we’ve got two days between the games — it’s not going to be a factor.”
On being drawn into the pick-and-roll…
“Sometimes it feels like they’re going to spend so much energy trying to put us in a certain position, and there’s still no mismatch, so it’s not necessarily bad. I don’t really think it was a reason we lost that game.”
On learning about the importance of experience in the Finals…
“It felt like we haven’t skipped any steps, because we’ve made almost every mistake we could have possibly done, and we’ve learned from them. So, I’m counting on the fact that we’re going to learn before this series is over, and apply.”
On how his bond with Mitch Johnson has grown during the Playoffs…
“He understands people very well, and knows how to speak to them. I’m no exception — he knows how to speak to me. In game, it feels like nonverbal communication as much as verbal, because first of all, it’s loud, and sometimes we’re far away…
“He knows what I need, he knows what I need to get to, and I also know what he needs, what signals he needs to get to. We’ve grown very much in that sense.”
On the Spurs’ belief heading into Game 5…
“Everybody knows we’re going to (come back).. We need to isolate that one game, and take it one game at a time. I think it would be a mistake to waste our energy on multiple games.”
JUNE 12 / 1:30 ET
Coach Mitch Johnson speaks
On focusing on how they built or lost leads after defeats…
“I think every game takes on a different personality, and a lot of times, when you watch the games back… there’s so much that starts to happen before you make a shot, or before the runs happen. And I think that’s a lot of what gives someone a lot of clarity on what went well and what didn’t. A lot of the time, these things aren’t in a vacuum.”
On reaching the team after a defeat like Game 4 after four close games…
“Conviction, strength and confidence. There’s no trick; there’s no avoiding what’s happened. All four games have been winnable games. There’s not avoiding that we’re down 3-1. There’s not avoiding ways that we could be better; there’s no one that’s going to be harder on ourselves or more accountable to ourselves than the people in that locker room and each other. That’s what’s helped us get to where we are, and that’s how the group is built, and there’s no circumstance that’ll change that.”
On Wemby’s playing 44 minutes and his total load…
“We’ve had that discussion throughout the season… He’s played heavy minutes at times through the games — all minutes aren’t created equal. Some quarters are really slow, whether there’s reviews or timeouts or whatnot…
“Looking back at it, I do believe that I have to make sure that I help him have the energy required to finish the game as strong as he needs to finish the game.”
On what he focused on after Game 4…
“The third quarter had the most disappointing parts, in terms of the lead was big, and it wasn’t quite hurting us enough… now you’re up 22, now you’re up 18… so there’s natural logic that says ‘teams make runs, and you may not just boat race somebody in an NBA Finals game at their place. But there’s a lot of things that we did where it felt like we could have put our energy in the right spots… and some things I could have done as well. I think that third quarter was most disappointing for me.”
On what they could have done on OG’s tip-in and the reaction to Fox’s game…
“I don’t get into social media. I think I’ve probably been fired 212 times and we’ve traded Fox 72 times, and unfortunately we’ve still got to show up and play tomorrow and I’ve got to coach. The people who matter, we bond together and we stick together through the highs and lows…
“We were, I think, chosen to be in the Play-In, and so I think there’s a lot of things that have happened. Fox and I were fortunate enough to experience All-Star Weekend — we got a lot of positive after that, and we lost a tough game in the Finals that we had a lot to do with, in terms of we had control to walk that thing down. And that’s what comes with the job…
“People have their opinions — I don’t care. I care what the people that matter in our building, in our organization, in our locker room, how they feel, and I hear them in how they feel. And De’Aaron Fox will have the ball at the end of the game tomorrow, and I have the utmost confidence that he’s going to deliver like he’s done countless times for us.”
JUNE 12 / 12:45 ET
A moment to remember
Poetry in slow motion.
OG’s Game 4-winning timing, athleticism, wingspan and coordination on display 🍿pic.twitter.com/Njc3zYMmUm
— NBA (@NBA) June 12, 2026
JUNE 12 / 12:30 ET
Check out Game 4’s highlights
The Knicks pulled off the largest comeback in NBA Finals history, coming back from a 29-point deficit to win the game 107-106 on a tip-in by O.G. Anunoby with 1.2 seconds remaining.
This is the second Finals to have two games decided by a single point (1975).
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