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NBA finals 2026 Game 4: San Antonio Spurs v New York Knicks – live updates | NBA finals

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2 months ago

June 11, 2026

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Bryan Armen Graham

In less than three minutes, Madison Square Garden has gone from a powder keg of noise and anticipation to a building crackling with nervous energy as the Spurs race to an early 12-2 lead. Karl-Anthony Towns picked up two early fouls, including one overturned on a successful Spurs challenge, and is already headed to the bench.

Seated at courtside for tonight’s game, as you might have overheard, is the recording artist Taylor Swift alongside close friends Alana and Este Haim. The Knicks celebrity cam puts Swift on the jumbotron during the break, ignoring the Haims entirely. Justice for the Haims!

Taylor Swift attends Game 4 of the NBA finals along with Alana and Este Haim. Photograph: Frank Franklin II/AP

Spurs 25-12 Knicks, 5:37, 1st qtr: And the Knicks fall back into terrible offensive movement. Or lack thereof. Bridges gets stuck with the ball in the middle of the lane, can’t find a passing option, and has to launch an off-balance shot.

Meanwhile, the Spurs can’t miss. Castle hits a 3. Vassell hits a 3.

Third-string Knicks center Ariel Hukporti enters for the winded Mitchell Robinson.

And Wemby hits a 3.

Spurs 14-10 Knicks, 7:51, 1st qtr: The Knicks are fighting back. After a good defensive stop, Josh Hart drives against Champagnie and converts both the layup and the free throw.

Spurs 12-5 Knicks, 8:38, 1st qtr: In any case – the Knicks have completely lost composure. They can’t hit any- …

Anunoby hits a 3.

I have great sympathy for referees because I do it myself. If I can’t see fouls clearly when keeping an eye on 11-year-old soccer players, then I can understand how referees can miss something in the chaos of 10 large athletes scrapping for possession of a basketball.

But I’m astounded how often referees look at a replay and make calls that are … idiosyncratic? Every now and then, especially in soccer, there’s a logical explanation that commentators miss because soccer commentators generally don’t keep up with changes to the Laws to the Game, and IFAB literally changes the Laws every year. But the reversal to put the foul on Towns rather than Wemby is not a rule change. It’s just looking at a blue dress and seeing a black dress, or whatever the viral image was.

Spurs 12-2 Knicks, 9:16, 1st qtr: Vassell hits another 3. Champagnie steals a pass from Josh Hart and drives for the breakaway dunk. That’ll teach the PA announcer to pause when reading off the lineup.

Mitchell Robinson replaces Towns, who is now charged with his second foul.

I don’t get it in the least. Wemby is claiming Towns pulled his arm. Towns and about 99% of the USA would see it as Wemby grabbing Towns and not letting go.

The call is overturned. I await an explanation.

Spurs 5-2 Knicks, 10:55, 1st qtr: Definitely not what the Knicks wanted at the outset – a foul on Karl-Anthony Towns, the big man who battled Wemby to a standstill in the first two games of the series. De’Aaron Fox hits both free throws.

Towns hits a nice floater at the other end to equalize. Darius Vassell smoothly hits a 3-pointer to restore the Spurs lead.

And now we have a talking point. Wemby mauls Towns as his nemesis drives to the hoop. Foul Wemby, right? Well, we’re getting a challenge.

Spurs 0-0 Knicks, 11:59, 1st qtr: After Taylor Swift blows a kiss to the camera, we have tipoff. Referee Zach Zarba is in his 23rd season. Spurs win the tip.

I’m a connoisseur of pregame hype videos, and I missed Game 3, so I’m interested in seeing what happens here.

The announcer paused when announcing Julian Champagnie in the Spurs’ starting lineup, as if trying to remember who he was.

Looks like the theme is to mix game highlights with images of Knicks players being as tall as buildings in Manhattan. It’s not bad, but someone should really tell pregame producers that just because you can do something with your video editing software doesn’t mean you should.

RZA of Wu-Tang Clan performs in March in London. Photograph: Simone Joyner/Getty Images

Performing at halftime: Wu-Tang Clan.

We have a correct answer on the trivia quiz from Neon Thotsky at Bluesky, who illustrates the point with a dramatic photo.

In mere words: Cleveland Cavaliers over Golden State Warriors, 2016. That was the Cleveland team with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving co-existing while Kevin Love gathered rebounds.

Have we ever seen a year with so many close games in both the NBA and NHL finals?

Last year, four of the seven games were decided by double digits. The year before that, the Celtics won three games in resounding fashion, lost Game 4 by 38 points, then won Game 5 by 18.

This year, the 10-point margin in Game 1 is deceptive. The Knicks barely eked out the lead late and then padded the margin in the last minute. Game 2 came down to a potential buzzer-beater that missed. Game 3 was still in doubt in the final seconds.

Over in the NHL, the first three games were decided by one goal, two of them in overtime. Last night, Jordan Staal’s belly-flop backhand put the Hurricanes up by one with 6:32 left, and Carolina didn’t put the game away until getting an empty-netter with 55 seconds left.

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Driver killed in Bedford train crash named

Published

2 months ago

June 21, 2026

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The family of Shaun Burton, say they are “devastated” by the loss.

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Spain v Saudi Arabia: World Cup 2026 – live | World Cup 2026

Published

2 months ago

June 21, 2026

info@oxinfo.co.uk

Key events

In the opening half an hour against Cape Verde, Mikel Oyarzabal, the centre-forward, did not get a single touch.

Oyarzabal profile

Kyle Green gets in touch: “Your highlighting of Lalas and his absurdity is something that has prevented me from wanting to watch the coverage on Fox. While every channel has its pros and cons I just can’t.

“I’m 45 and probably the youngest of anyone who remembers him as a player instead of an opinionated insert insult here. As for the match this could be more competitive than it looks on paper Spain need a win the pressure is on them. Saudi Arabia could hold out for a draw and see what happens in their last match. “

News from the England camp, and it seems to be good news on Declan Rice.

“I’m ready and fit, raring to go. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time. Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind-the-scenes stuff but it was a smart decision.

“In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70-minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”

Alex Reid has penned today’s weekend special Football Daily.

Portugal v Uzbekistan on Tuesday enticingly pits the incredibly nice, incredibly 41-year-old-superstar-tolerant Roberto Martínez against Fabio Cannavaro, who’s won a Ballon d’Or as a player and the Chinese Super League as a coach. While the fixture following that game really does see the dream of Thomas Tuchel – in his first international job with England – taking on Queiroz, who is in charge of his ninth national side with Ghana.

The expected formations are 4-2-3-1 for Spain, and 5-3-2 for the Saudi Arabians.

The Saudi team features two Donis changes: Ali Lajami, a defender, and Nasser Al Dawsari, a midfielder, are preferred to Mohammed Abu Al Shamat and Mohamed Kanno. You may recall Salem Al Dawsari, the Saudi captain, as the man who scored the winner against Argentina.

An entertaining read, even for those of us who have just seen the clips.

In a conversation where his co-panelist is casually reminiscing about his days playing alongside Messi or exchanging shirts with Ronaldo Nazário at the World Cup, what exactly is Lalas going to talk about – coming on as a second-half substitute for Earnie Stewart in a friendly against Scotland in 1998? Helping the Kansas City Wizards finish last in the 1999 MLS Western Conference? Did Lalas enjoy an elite playing career? No. But does he do the background reading that could compensate for his relative lack of standing in a conversation with titans like Henry and Zlatan? Also no. But is he charming or funny or charismatic or otherwise magnetic on screen? Eh, no.

For the record, I once interviewed Alexi Lalas on the challenge of playing against Romario in the 1994 World Cup. He had this to say:

“He could kill you in so many different ways. If you remember from that World Cup, he scored so many types of goals. That ranged from solo adventures to an outside-of-the-right-foot half-volley off a corner kick. Romario was both the most difficult to play against and the best that I have faced.

“Roberto Baggio was doing his thing, but in terms of consistency and living up to the hype, he [Romario] was the best. As with all stars, there was a moment when the fans sit up in their seats, and that was a feeling I got with Romario. When it got close to him and the potential for his involvement in a play was there, everybody sat up in their seat. They knew that something spectacular would be happening.”

Saturday’s match reports here.

The Saudi Arabia coach, and Blackburn legend, Georgios Donis, spoke about the challenges facing his team: “Spain is not the same ⁠team when Yamal or Williams are on the bench.

“While they still have plenty of possession, they lack the individual one-on-one penetration when these two are ⁠missing. I’m not saying it’s a problem for Spain, but when those players are missing, they play in a different way. We saw this very clearly against ‌Cape Verde.

“We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and it’s very important that when you play against these kinds of teams, you ‌should enjoy the experience and respect the opponent, but not too much.

“It is very hard for any team playing against Spain to have any time in possession. So what we must do is to be more in control of our movement and compact, and when the ball goes through the lines, be able to defend dynamically.

“It’s nice to see miracles in football, and we’ve seen favourites losing against underdogs. Of course, it’s great for Saudi football to have a great memory of the result against Argentina, but we aren’t drawing anything from that.

“I think we’ll feel more pressure in that [Cape Verde] game than we will against Spain.”

The Spain coach, Luis De La Fuente had this to say in his Saturday press conference: “This generation of footballers is highly competitive and really fired up… It’s going to be a completely different story,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday. There is no drama or crisis. The bottom line is simply that we need to win tomorrow.”

Four changes for Spain: Lamine Yamal, Pedro Porro, Dani Olmo and Alex Baena also come into the side with Marcos Llorente, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres and Gavi dropping out.

The teams – Lamine Yamal starts

Spain: Simon, Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodri, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal. Subs: Raya, Joan Garcia, Pubill, Grimaldo, Eric Garcia, Llorente, Merino, Torres, Fabian, Gavi, Pino, Williams, Zubimendi, Munoz, Iglesias.

Saudi Arabia: Al Owais, Abdulhamid, Tambakti, Lajami, Al Amri, Al Harbi, Nasser Al Dawsari, Al Khaibari, Al Juwayr, Al Buraikan, Salem Al Dawsari. Subs: Al Aqidi, Al Kassar, Majrashi, Yahya, Al Shehri, Al Boushal, Kadesh, Al Johani, Al Ghannam, Al Hajji, Al Hamdan, Mandash, Kanno, Thakri, Abu Al Shamat.

Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)

Perhaps one of the Saudi -players can write themselves into this high-grade selection?

Perhaps it can be their goalkeeper.

Al-Aqidi profile

Madrid screening of Spain v Saudi Arabia cancelled due to heat

The public screening of Spain’s World Cup match against Saudi Arabia in Madrid on Sunday has been cancelled because of extreme heat forecast for the Spanish capital, officials said.

The match, due to kick off at 6pm local time on Sunday, had been scheduled to be shown on a giant screen installed by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) at a fan zone in Plaza de Colón in central Madrid.

Madrid city council and the federation decided to cancel the screening after national weather agency AEMET issued an orange heat warning – the second-highest level – for the Madrid region, with temperatures forecast to reach 40C.

“The decision has been taken with the aim of protecting the health of attendees, event staff and support services involved in the event,” Madrid city hall said in a statement, apologising for any inconvenience.

Officials urged supporters to watch the match indoors in air-conditioned spaces and avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.

Large parts of Spain are experiencing unusually high temperatures for June as a mass of hot air from North Africa moves across the Iberian Peninsula.

A total of 13 of Spain’s 17 regions are on orange alert for heat on Sunday, while the northern Basque Country bordering France is on red alert, the highest level.

Authorities advised residents and visitors to take precautions during the heatwave, including drinking water regularly, staying in cool environments, limiting outdoor physical activity during the hottest hours of the day and taking extra care of vulnerable people. AFP

Can Saudi Arabia repeat the magic of 2022?

Argentina arrived in Qatar on a 36-game unbeaten run. When Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 10 minutes, a comfortable afternoon seemed in the offing. Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-Dawsari had other ideas, Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in the space of 13 minutes and the greatest comeback in Saudi Arabia football history was made. Argentina went on to lift the trophy, while defeats to Poland and Mexico meant the Saudis did not reach the knock-out stage.

Unai Simon over David Raya is a controversial choice for De la Fuentes. The Arsenal keeper could lay claim to being Europe’s best this season.

“Those at the Champions League final had a few more days, so I got there on the Wednesday night,” Raya says. “I arrived a bit before Fabián [Ruiz]. I was saying hello to some of the others in reception when he arrived. I went to say congratulations; that was almost the first thing I did. I couldn’t really talk [to him] after the final; I just didn’t have it in me. The next day we talked about the game properly. Just two mates chatting … I was happy for him that he could lift the trophy for a second time.”

A high pressure game for the European champions, as Sid Lowe reports.

“If we had scored one, the game would have changed,” Martín Zubimendi said. Immediately after the game, De la Fuente had offered a simple analysis: when the ball doesn’t want to go in it doesn’t want to go in, he insisted. Spain had racked up 27 shots, after all. Ferran Torres had hit the bar and seen another clear opportunity saved. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who stopped that, saved six more and was named the man of the match. “There’s nothing to reproach the team for,” Rodri said. “We generated chances but couldn’t put it away; the good thing is they created almost nothing.”

We wait to see what role Lamine Yamal will play today. His coach would surely like to be able to use him.

The worst mistake we could make would be to compare him to anyone. He is the midst of a process. He has exceptional footballing maturity and lives it all with total naturalness. He has great serenity and strength. We have to let him follow his path but those players who have something different are ready for that. They’re geniuses, like Dalí [who] can paint a picture, or Michelangelo. They’re different. What is exceptional to us, isn’t to them. In those extremes, they feel comfortable. Why? Because they are different. What we think is exceptional, they consider normal.

Lamine Yamal profile

Preamble

Spain’s campaign did not get off to a flying start, and Luis de la Fuentes may wake up in the night to visions of Cape Verde’s Vozinha. He will have Georgia on his mind ever since Monday. Saudi Arabia are no pushovers and gave Uruguay a scare in their opening match. Memories of downing Argentina four years ago still abound, and so Spain might beware. They can ill afford to go into the final game with Uruguay at a disadvantage. All eyes on Lamine Yamal, whose fitness situation remains opaque, though Spain need their other forwards to come to the party.

Kick-off 5pm UK, 1pm ET, 2am AEST. Join me.

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