After all of that in the first three quarters, the multiple injury scares and the slightly-off shooting, Jalen Brunson tapped out an offensive rebound officially credited to Mikal Bridges, stepped over to the corner, and earned his first NBA Finals “BANG!” from Mike Breen by nailing a three over a diving Stephon Castle with 1:50 left in the fourth quarter.

Karl-Anthony Towns, the hero of the evening for his extensive two-way effort against Victor Wembanyama as well as his extremely effective stewardship of New York’s offense in Brunson’s absences, was yet again busy holding Wemby back in the paint.