OG Anunoby's clutch block of RJ Barrett shot saves game for Knicks
Knicks forward OG Anunoby drives past the Raptors' Scottie Barnes and Gradey Dick during the second half of an NBA game in Toronto on Monday. Credit: AP/Nathan Denette
TORONTO — In pregame introductions, OG Anunoby was greeted with a polite round of applause as he returned to Toronto. And when RJ Barrett was introduced with all of the pomp and circumstance of a home team intro, he jumped and danced along the sideline.
That mood carried over for much of the game as Barrett seemed intent on making a statement against the team that traded him away. But in the end, it was the Knicks who were jumping and celebrating after pulling out a 113-108 win at Scotiabank Arena.
Barrett did his part, finishing with 30 points, eight rebounds and four assists, but Anunoby blocked his potential tying shot in the final minute and the Knicks got a balanced attack topped by Karl-Anthony Towns (24 points, 15 rebounds, six assists) to survive.
Jalen Brunson’s four-point play with 3:03 left began a game-ending 12-4 run that gave the Knicks (15-9) the win. Mikal Bridges had 23 points and Brunson added 20 points and 11 assists.
That was barely enough to allow the Knicks to overcome Barrett’s performance. Asked if he thought Barrett was playing with extra fire, Josh Hart said, “Nah, because he’s been hooping. If he was out there averaging like 15, 16 and he erupted for 30, maybe a little bit. He’s playing at an All-Star level. I don’t think it was anything added.”
When the Knicks, clinging to a two-point lead, missed a layup, Barrett muscled the ball away from Towns, raced up the floor and hit a lefthanded layup between two defenders to tie the score at 108 with 42.1 seconds left.
But out of a timeout, a double-teamed Brunson found Towns under the basket for a go-ahead layup with 36 seconds remaining. When Barrett got past Anunoby and challenged Towns for a layup, Anunoby blocked the shot from behind. Towns delivered a three-point field goal on a feed from Anunoby with 6.3 seconds to play, and this time the Knicks celebrated as wildly as Barrett had at the start of the game.
“This is OG’s game, man,” Towns said. “It meant a lot to him. And we wanted to make sure we got that for him . . . OG is one of the best two-way players in the NBA. So I don’t know why we would expect anything less from him.”
“OG just has a knack for making plays defensively,” Brunson said. “When it looks like no one can make the play, he just does it, night-in, night-out. That’s what he does.”
With just over a minute left in the third quarter, Brunson backed up toward the sideline after draining a three-point field goal and appeared to step on a fan’s foot. He left the game when the Knicks called time and headed to the locker room. He returned to the bench early in the fourth quarter and reentered the game with 6:35 left and the Knicks trailing 97-95.
“I feel fine,” he said afterward. “Next question.”
Hart gave the Knicks the lead with a corner three-pointer after a steal. The Raptors briefly took the lead back before Towns drained a three on a feed from Brunson for a 101-99 advantage.
With the score tied at 101 after Barrett’s drive, Barrett drove again and found Davion Mitchell in the corner for a three-pointer with 3:30 remaining. Brunson answered with a three of his own, drawing a foul on Mitchell on the play and converting the four-point play to give the Knicks a 105-104 lead with 3:03 left.
Mitchell gave Toronto the lead again, but Towns found Bridges in the corner for a go-ahead three-pointer.
This game meant something for Barrett. As he prepared to take the court for the Raptors against his former team on Monday night, he sat at his locker and paused for a moment as he considered a question. He thought back through his years in New York and realized that not a single player on the current Knicks had been with the team when he arrived in the 2019 NBA Draft.
Back then, he was supposed to be the next big thing in New York, the No. 3 overall pick and a turning point for a franchise that had been floundering for years. The Knicks built around him, and then nearly a year ago — Dec. 30, 2023 — he got the call that he was gone.
Notes & quotes: With 6:47 to play in the third quarter, Towns and Scottie Barnes collided on a foul by Barnes. Towns was slow to get up, flexing his right knee. Barnes had to be helped off by teammates, limping to the locker room on one leg. He did not return, diagnosed with a sprained right ankle.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
