The numbers, by this level, have change into staggering.
OG Anunoby — the centerpiece of the Knicks’ protection since he was acquired in December 2023 — hasn’t simply prevented the Celtics from scoring. They’ve averted taking pictures altogether when matched up towards him.
Boston famous person Jayson Tatum went simply 1-for-7 from the sphere throughout almost 17 minutes with Anunoby as his main defender through the first two video games of the Jap Convention semifinal collection — and he tried only one shot in all of Recreation 2 with that matchup, in accordance with the NBA’s monitoring knowledge.
The remainder of the Celtics are 6-for-27 with Anunoby as their main defender. Jaylen Brown, Boston’s No. 2 scoring possibility, collected a share marginally higher than Tatum’s at 2-for-7.
Anunoby’s defensive fame adopted him from the Raptors to the Knicks, from the place the place he tasted a championship six years in the past to the one the place he served as a possible lacking piece.
And one 12 months after a hamstring damage restricted him to elements of three video games towards the Pacers within the second spherical, Anunoby has anchored the Knicks’ protection to assist them take a shocking 2-0 lead coming into Saturday’s Recreation 3.
“It’s not easy,” Jalen Brunson mentioned Friday after the Knicks practiced in Tarrytown. “Those are great players over there, and so we have to be able to help him out. He’s been doing a phenomenal job, and as teammates, we have to help him.”
Final month, within the ultimate days of the common season, Anunoby declared he ought to win Defensive Participant of the 12 months.
He collected one of the best defensive ranking amongst Knicks starters through the common season (112.3), and as soon as the playoffs arrived, when particular person possessions elevated in significance, Anunoby delivered once more.
Tatum has shot simply 28.6 % and recorded simply 36 factors within the collection, admitting Thursday he wanted “to be better.”
Although Mikal Bridges generated loads of consideration for stealing the ball from Brown on the ultimate possession of additional time in Recreation 1 and blocking Tatum’s shot to finish Recreation 2, Anunoby’s sustained effort resulted within the Celtics wanting elsewhere for pictures — and he was additionally subsequent to Bridges throughout that end-of-game sequence Wednesday.
Anunoby has been the first defender in a matchup with Tatum for almost seven extra minutes than another Knick, in accordance with the NBA monitoring stats.
The Knicks haven’t been shocked by Anunoby’s protection, Brunson mentioned, as a result of they’ve all the time identified what he’s able to.
And it has continued showing on the largest stage — most evident by the pictures Tatum hasn’t made and particularly those he hasn’t even tried — of his Knicks profession towards the defending champions.
“I think when you put that with Mikal and Josh [Hart], that wing versatility is huge,” Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau mentioned. “To add in what [Mitchell Robinson] has brought to that and also Karl [Anthony-Towns]’s defense, I think it vastly improved.”
