See, this is why you can dream a little if you’re a Knicks fan. This is what it looks like. OG Anunoby was away from the team for so long, twice, that it was almost easy to forget why his arrival was such a defining moment for this team.
It was easy to believe that those first 14 games — when the Knicks looked like a completely different team, when Madison Square Garden was transformed into an acoustic madhouse dating back to 1994 or 1973 — were figments of the city’s imagination .
But it was not a mirage. It was real.
And Tuesday night, we were reminded of exactly what they have when Anunoby is in the rotation. Jalen Brunson was the offensive monster, as usual, dropping another 45 points and adding eight assists as the Knicks beat the Bulls 128-117, avenging Friday night’s loss at United Center and moving ever closer to ‘a place in the playoffs.
Anunoby scored 24 points and was +12 in 35 minutes, and he was particularly sharp early when he made a layup, a dunk and a 3-pointer to get the Knicks back on the path to a vital victory. He also made three more 3s afterward.
But where Anunoby is most dangerous — and where the Knicks are potentially the most problematic in the playoffs — is on the other end of the court. Tom Thibodeau kept him in the game a little too long in the first half, long enough for him to commit a fourth foul, and from there he had to ease up on his aggression, particularly on DeMar DeRozan.
“Stay away and make no mistakes” was his mission thereafter.
But this first half…
Well, he was everywhere. He guarded DeRozan closely, occasionally moving in on Coby White. He was helping. He frustrated the Bulls on every possession. He was the kind of defensive nuisance the Knicks hadn’t had in decades.
Better yet, he doesn’t seem bothered by the nagging elbow pain that cost him two long stints away from the team. The Knicks are still an injured team, and will be for the rest of the season since they don’t get Julius Randle back.
But they feel a little more whole now. And they’re starting to look again like the team that captured the Garden’s imagination those first 27 days of January, when they were 12-2 and not just beating good teams, but beating them annihilate.
“It felt good, I was trying to be aggressive,” Anunoby said. “When the team came out we wanted to get off to a good start and we did. We made some plays as the game went on trying to find me, and I was trying to be aggressive.
When Anunoby first returned from elbow surgery for a three-game appearance on March 12, he posted good numbers and was his usual defensive self (and the Knicks, unsurprisingly, won the three matches). But he seemed to consistently favor the banged elbow, which then developed tendinopathy.
When he returned for Friday’s game at Chicago, he looked good, and while his defense in Sunday’s huge win at Milwaukee was stellar as always, he missed eight of the 10 shots he it pulled and still looked a little rusty. There was no rust on Tuesday.
“We brought our ‘A’ game,” Brunson said.
Brunson certainly did. Just like Anunoby, who was one of Brunson’s main wingmen.
“It’s getting better every game,” Anunoby said. “I don’t even think about (the elbow) anymore.”
And while he takes the Knicks’ defense to a different level, he also fits in well with the other four members of the Knicks’ starting five, all of whom pride themselves on making the extra pass, and all of whom can reward you if you I’m ready to move without the ball. Brunson, Isaiah Hartenstein, Josh Hart, Donte DiVincenzo – they all received assists to feed Anunoby.
“They’re great passers,” Anunoby said of his teammates. “Every time I see them trying to get off the screens, I try to get into their vision, either cut off or spotted. And usually, they find me.
It was all good to watch in January, when the Knicks demanded to be taken seriously as an elite member of the Eastern Powers (non-Boston division), and it was all good to watch Tuesday night.
“We play every game to win,” Anunoby said. “We don’t care about anyone else. We just try to win every game.
They are now 17-3 with him in the lineup. They may not win every game. But it’s close.
New York Post
