OG Anunoby igniting the Garden crowd, and the Knicks, with his defense
The Knicks' OG Anunoby, right, blocks a shot by Charlotte Hornets' Cody Martin, left, during the second half on Thursday. Credit: AP/Pamela Smith
The Knicks put on an offensive show for the folks at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night, scoring with ease, passing the ball unselfishly, sharing the wealth and taking turns taking over the offense.
But it wasn’t the dunks or the barrage of three-point field goals, not the fast-break buckets, that really got the fans out of their seats. It was one possession on the other end of the floor.
Late in the third quarter, K.J. Simpson lined up a three-point shot in the corner, just in front of the Knicks' bench. As he launched it, OG Anunoby slipped off his man and rose up, jumping toward Simpson and swatting the shot deep into the stands.
It put Anunoby in position to be greeted with handshakes and high-fives from his teammates . . . but he wasn’t done.
As the Hornets inbounded the ball again and swung it to the opposite side of the floor, Cody Martin attempted a three-pointer. And just like the last one, Anunoby blocked it into the seats.
This time his momentum allowed him to retrieve the ball and take in the adoration of the crowd. As he headed back to the floor, the crowd began to chant his name, and the usually stoic Anunoby could not help breaking into a smile.
It’s history at the Garden. Defense gets the chants. Walt Frazier scored 36 points in the seventh game of the 1970 NBA Finals to secure the first championship in franchise history, but it was his defensive prowess that made him a fixture at the Garden. Even Frazier acknowledged that Anunoby is a throwback in a league gone soft.
Maybe the oddest part was Anunoby smiling and equally laconic Tom Thibodeau acknowledging that by joking, “He's getting checked right now.” But Thibodeau, like the 19,812 fans at the Garden, enjoyed the show.
The Knicks have the No. 1 offense in the NBA, but besides winning championships, defense gets the fans out of their seats at the Garden.
“The plays that he was making, he's the only one that can make them,” Thibodeau said. “He's everywhere. He's flying around. He's into the bodies, and when he's like that, he just covers so much ground. His timing, you can't throw the ball over him. He challenges shots great. He's a guy with great, great instincts. He played a terrific game.
“I think plays like that unite and inspire the team. You can feel it. When a guy makes a great multiple effort, it's inspiring to everyone. That gets you going. The energy that you get from that is huge. The blocked shots, diving on the floor, coming up with a steal, and actually that's really what got us going. He blew up a couple of dribble handoffs, we got a couple of easy baskets and then we got going."
“I love it. I love it every time,” Anunoby said. “Even on the road in Denver, I loved it. Here I love it. I love it everywhere. It’s awesome. I think it can be from anything: a loose ball recovery, a charge, any play. Anything can bring momentum to help the team. The crowd, they appreciate it. They know what they’re watching. They appreciate it.”
Anunoby has scored 40 points in a game this season and had 25 on Thursday. He also is arguably one of the best defensive players in the game and can lay claim to being one of the top two-way players in the NBA. But it is the defensive end of the floor where he is different, a talent that can get the crowd up and do things that no one has done — even things like the two blocks into the stands on one possession, which he admitted he’d never done before.
“I think we all know in this, in this locker room, the talent OG possesses,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “I think he's one of the best two-way players in the NBA. Defensively, offensively, he affects the game. I'm just glad that he's getting this moment here in the Mecca in New York to show the world the talent that we all see.”
They see it, just as the crowd sees it. But his teammates also make certain that Anunoby is one of them — no more, no less.
Asked about how he’d play it if Anunoby were guarding him, Jalen Brunson deadpanned, “He can’t guard me.”
Towns got the same question and laughed, insisting he wasn’t playing into this game. “I don’t know about all that,” he said. “Hey, don’t try to start that.”
Wise. A veteran move. But the Knicks know what Anunoby brings.
“Yeah, it’s crazy,” Mikal Bridges said. “He’s just a freak of nature, getting those blocks . . . He’s been OG since he’s been in the league, I’ve been watching him. Really dope.”
On that, the crowd would agree. The “O-G” chant is oddly similar to “D-fense,” something long practiced at the Garden.
Notes & quotes: Brunson is questionable for Saturday night's game against the Pistons with a lower back contusion. Cam Payne remains questionable with left elbow effusion.
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.