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The San Antonio Spurs traded for De’Aaron Fox last season for clutch moments like Wednesday night.
Entering the night down 2-1 in the series, the youthful Spurs had built a 27-point lead at halftime in New York and seemed to have the series all but tied up. The Knicks, though, rallied back from a second-half deficit that swelled as large as 29 points, and took a late lead with 2:21 left in the game.
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In that moment, the Spurs needed a steady veteran hand to stem the bleeding and ensure the team didn’t blow it. Enter the 28-year-old Fox, who is the team’s highest-paid player, oldest ball-handler and a former Clutch Player of the Year.
But what transpired next was something that will go down as one of the biggest blunders in NBA history.
With 15 seconds left, with the Spurs up one, Victor Wembanyama got the stop the Spurs desperately needed on the previously unflappable Jalen Brunson, but on the rebound, the ball squeaked out past halfcourt and Fox chased it down.
On paper, Spurs nation would want no one else to have the ball at that critical moment. All Fox had to do was make the savvy move. Dribble the ball out. Wait for the Knicks to foul. Go to the line to ice the game.
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And then the unthinkable happened: Fox forgot the clock and score.
He must have, right?
There’s no other explanation for what he did next.
With about 12 seconds left, Fox didn’t dribble it out. Instead, he tried to lay it up over the bigger OG Anunoby, and promptly got blocked by the two-time All-Defense wing. The Knicks recovered the loose ball.
After the game, Fox was asked about his decision to lay it up.
“I just thought I’d be able to outrun him,” Fox told reporters.
He could have outrun him and dribbled the clock out. But alas.
In a flash, Fox’s mental lapse completely erased Wembanyama’s epic stop and gave the Knicks life again. Rather than Fox, a career 75% free-throw shooter, standing at the line for two free throws to potentially go up three points, the Knicks suddenly had the ball with 5.7 seconds left and a chance to win it.
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If that’s not bad enough, Fox’s nightmare continued.
Out of…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/as-game-4s-collapse-showed-the-spurs-have-a-deaaron-fox-problem-061913278.html
Author : Tom Haberstroh
Publish date : 2026-06-11 06:19:00
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