OG Anunoby has been just what the New York Knicks needed since trading for him in December.
The 6-foot-7 small forward is a strong, versatile defender, and he’s hitting 3-point shots at a 39.4% clip this season. Anunoby scored 28 points and made 4-of-7 3-point attempts on Wednesday night as the Knicks defeated the Indiana Pacers 130-121 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
While Anunoby’s performance was crucial to the Knicks taking a 2-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, he left the game in the third quarter with a sore hamstring and did not return. Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said in his postgame press conference he had not yet talked to the training staff, so he did not have an update on Anunoby’s status.
Along with his 28 points, which was second on the team behind Jalen Brunson’s 29, Anunoby had four rebounds, three assists and one block. He shot 10-for-19 from the field and had a plus-10 plus/minus in 28 minutes of action. That made for Anunoby’s highest-scoring playoff game of the season and his second-highest scoring game all year, behind a 29-point performance against the Knicks when played for Toronto Raptors.
The Knicks acquired Anunoby in a Dec. 30 trade that sent guards RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley, plus a 2024 second-round pick, to the Raptors in exchange for Anunoby, forward Precious Achiuwa and guard Malachi Flynn.
Across eight playoff games with the Knicks, Anunoby is averaging 16.4 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.1 blocks and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 39.5% from 3-point range.
Anunoby began his career with the Toronto Raptors, where he developed year after year. After scoring 5.9 points per game as a rookie, he averaged a career-high 17.1 points per game in 2021-22. The followoing season, he led the NBA in steals and made the NBA All-Defensive second team while finishing seventh in Defensive Player of the Year voting.
The Raptors originally selected Anunoby with the 23rd overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft out of Indiana, where he played two seasons under former Indiana coach Tom Crean from 2015-17.
Anunoby was a hidden gem out in the class of 2015, ranked No. 293 nationally out of Jefferson City, Mo. He played 13.7 minutes per game and averaged 4.9 points off the bench as a freshman for the Hoosiers, who won the Big Ten regular season title in 2015-16. Anunoby was in the midst of a breakout sophomore year, averaging 11.1 points per game, but he suffered a season-ending knee injury 16 games in to the season.
The Knicks will certainly hope to have Anunoby back for Game 3 in Indianapolis. But if he is unable to play in any games moving forward, Achiuwa could be in line for increased minutes after playing 28 in Wednesday’s game.
