Why OG Anunoby is a good defender and making a major impact with the Knicks

DALLAS — The chants rang through Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night, a loud chorus of, “O-G! O-G! OG!” as OG Anunoby stepped to the free-throw line. Understandable as the Knicks were on their way to another one-sided win to improve to 5-0 since the trade that brought him to New York.

The chants were in recognition of his offensive outburst on this night. Anunoby scored 16 points in the first quarter as the Knicks opened up a huge lead and never let Portland back in the game. But the every-night contribution from Anunoby, the part of his game that pushed the Knicks to break up their team to swing the deal, is on the other end of the court and that has been a constant through all five games.

Anunoby arrived in New York with a reputation as perhaps the best perimeter defender in the NBA. He was a second-team All-Defensive Team member last season with Toronto, versatile and consistent. And while it may be a small sample size, the Knicks were ranked last in the NBA in defensive rating in December, having lost Mitchell Robinson to a likely season-ending ankle injury. In the new year, since the arrival of Anunoby in a deal for RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley, the Knicks are the No. 1-ranked defense in the league.

So what is it that makes Anunoby so good?

“OG is very good at what he does,” said Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse, who had Anunoby in Toronto until this season. “He’s one of the best defenders in the league . . . He kind of always was a good defender, he’s unique, has length, strength, really good feet. He has a really good combination of athletic skills.

“I just thought it was interesting to watch him be able to guard such a variety of people. We’d go out West and it would be [Nikola] Jokic one night, Kawhi [Leonard] the next. Then Damian Lillard the next. All the way across the board, those guys he could defend and he’d do a really good job on all of them.”

It took just minutes into their first game together against Minnesota for the Knicks to see that. Listed at 6-7, 240 pounds with a 7-2 wingspan, Anunoby started out on Anthony Edwards. But he is strong enough to guard 7-foot Karl-Anthony Towns. He has guarded lightning-quick point guard Tyrese Maxey and power forwards such as Portland’s Jerami Grant. And his next assignment has shifted with the news that the Dallas Mavericks will be without Luka Doncic Thursday, sidelined with an ankle injury.

Anunoby is not flashy on the court — and maybe less so off of it in interviews. His most notable off-court moment came two years ago when he went viral for a fashion shoot with Serge Ibaka, arriving in a New York City Department of Sanitation sweatshirt and arguing over scarves. Even in that he was a man of few words, same as his interview sessions.

Asked to explain his defensive skills, he said, “Just over the years. When I was young, I was jumpy. And then as I got older learning tricks of other players and stuff.” He listed some of his role models — Andre Roberson, Jimmy Butler, Leonard, Jrue Holiday and Marcus Smart — and then when he was asked how he stopped being so jumpy he said, “Just not being a young player anymore.” Makes sense.

“He’s just active,” Julius Randle said. “It’s one thing to be active as far as on ball and he’s active with his hands and he has great length and size and he’s strong, so that’s one thing. . . . He gets a lot of deflections, hands in the passing lanes, stuff like that. Disruptive. He also sees rotations really early. If we’re in a scramble mode or whatever, he’ll see a rotation early and just disrupt what the offense is trying to do.”

The thing the Knicks have seen is that as a team since Anunoby’s arrival, they are allowing  just 97.4 points per game and boast the NBA’s best defensive rating at 100.2. As Anunoby and the Knicks are quick to point out, he’s still learning, doing much of his work on both ends of the court on instinct as he tries to acclimate to the system of Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau and find his fit with his new teammates.

Still, in those five games he has a net rating of 31.7 — second in the NBA only to teammate Isaiah Hartenstein among players with at least 20 minutes per game. His defensive rating of 92.2 in that span is the best in the NBA among players averaging at least 20 minutes per game.

“It’s going to be each day he’s getting more comfortable,” Thibodeau said. “I think he puts a lot of time in. Great worker, very serious in his approach. Comes back at night, comes early to watch film. He’s done a really good job. We have a number of guys that are like that. When you have a team that’s committed to playing for each other and committed to winning and putting the team first, good things come from that."

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

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.