Knicks Legend Sends Clear Message Ahead of Must-Win Game 4 at MSG

The New York Knicks are coming into a pivotal Game 4 on Wednesday night with real urgency to not let this series slip away.

The team won the first two NBA Finals games on the road in San Antonio, and could’ve effectively put the series away on Monday night, going up 3-0, a deficit no team has ever come back from.

Instead, they let Victor Wembanyama take over, and are now just 48 minutes away from having the series tied up again.

Just before tip-off, Knicks legend Bernard King emphasized the importance of Game 4, calling it a “pivotal game.”

“This is a pivotal game because the next game is going to be on the road. This game has to be won tonight,” King told NBA Today. “I expect this team to step up tonight and play well. They’ll push the ball up the floor, which they didn’t do as much as they should have in the last game, and we’ve got to really handle the pressure of the defense tonight, and that’s really going to be key so we don’t commit as many turnovers.”

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A Brooklyn, New York, native, King remains one of the most respected players in Knicks franchise history.

A four-time NBA All-Star, four-time All-NBA selection, and now Basketball Hall of Famer, King starred for the Knicks from 1982 to 1987 as one of the league’s most explosive scorers.

His best season came in 1984-85, when he led the NBA in scoring at 32.9 points, along with 5.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.3 steals per game.

The year prior, King had helped take the Knicks to the Eastern Conference semifinals, where they fell in seven games to Larry Bird’s Celtics. He averaged 34.8 points per game in those playoffs.

Injuries derailed his career later on, but he remains one of the defining figures of the 1980s Knicks.

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Looking ahead to Game 4, if the Knicks win, they regain control of the series, sitting just one game away from their first NBA title since 1973. A loss, however, would put them in a tricky situation.

A 2-2 tie may not seem bad on the surface, but losing back-to-back games at home and giving a player like Wembanyama more time to rest between games could be enough to blow the series wide open.

The last thing you want to do is give a player like that momentum, and that’s exactly what will happen if the Knicks lose tonight.

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This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 1:35 PM.