A lot has been made about OG Anunoby’s progress as a scorer in current weeks, which was on full show Saturday night time as he scored 23 factors within the Knicks’ 123-112 Sport 1 win over the Pistons at Madison Sq. Backyard.
However a lot of that scoring got here early, when Jalen Brunson was struggling.
By the second half, particularly within the fourth quarter, Anunoby confirmed the first purpose the Knicks gave him the largest contract in franchise historical past.
Why they made the blockbuster commerce final yr to amass him.
Why his teammates rave about him each likelihood they get.
He primarily guarded Pistons star Cade Cunningham and largely shut him down.
Cunningham completed with 21 factors and 12 assists, however on tough 8-of-21 taking pictures from the sphere together with a whopping six turnovers.
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Three of these six turnovers got here within the fourth quarter.
“OG Anunoby, man. He’s a hell of a player,” Josh Hart stated. “Defensively we had faith in him to guard anybody. So obviously we’re all locked in and dialed in on him. He’s a good player. But OG loves those kinds of matchups, especially in the playoffs when you can be physical. He’s a physical guy, able to get through screens and those kinds of things. We need his offense obviously, but more importantly his defense.”
Anunoby’s hounding protection helped the Knicks pull a 180 on that aspect of the ball within the fourth quarter.
After surrendering 36 factors within the third quarter, which allowed the Pistons to take a nine-point lead, the Knicks gave up simply 21 within the fourth quarter.
In flip, they ripped off a 21-0 run to show the sport on its head.
“Cade is a great player. He’s a tough matchup,” coach Tom Thibodeau stated. “The thing I love about OG is he competes on every play. Sometimes he can defend him perfectly, he has the ability to make the shot, but that doesn’t deter [Anunoby] from coming back the next time and doing it again. You try to make [Cunningham] work as hard as you can. OG’s a great competitor, he’s given our team a lot.”
Anunoby additionally acquired loads of assist, with the Knicks typically sending a number of defenders at Cunningham.
It served as blueprint for a way they’ll method Cunningham the remainder of the collection.
“They sent bodies at me, more than anything,” Cunningham stated. “They made sure that every time I came off, they were checking me. They were sending bodies at me all the time, trying to follow my hand. So they were on the same accord today and I just [wasn’t] picking them apart enough.”
