OG Anunoby is a man of few words, and on a Knicks team full of stars, all of the ways he affects winning can sometimes feel equally as subtle.
The efficient Anunoby doesn’t dominate the ball, instead scoring many of his points on catch-and-shoot 3-pointers or in transition.
The veteran forward regularly defends an opponent’s top scorer, and thus largely eliminates them from the action.
And Anunoby is an under-the-radar rebounder, an element of his game that’s looming larger and larger in these playoffs.
But make no mistake, the understated Anunoby is having a deafeningly loud impact on the Knicks’ first-round meeting with the Hawks – a series they now lead, 3-2, after Tuesday night’s 126-97 win at Madison Square Garden in Game 5.
“OG’s a monster,” head coach Mike Brown said before Tuesday’s series-shifting victory. “And when he imposes his will on the game, he can impact it in a lot of different ways.”
Anunoby scored 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including 2-of-3 from 3-point range, to go with 10 rebounds.
It was Anunoby’s second consecutive double-double, and the fifth time in as many games in this series that he’s recorded at least eight rebounds.
“We all need to rebound better,” Brown said, “and OG is just taking it, in my opinion, to the level that he’s more than capable.”
Anunoby is now averaging 17.8 points and 9.0 rebounds per game this postseason. He entered Tuesday shooting 56.0% from the field and 52.4% on 3-pointers. He has made at least two 3-pointers in all five games.
But just as important as Anunoby’s scoring and rebounding has been his defense.
Entering Game 5, the Hawks had shot a combined 17-of-44 (38.6%) on possessions in which Anunoby was the primary defender, according to the NBA’s tracking data.
Onyeka Okongwu, the Hawks’ 6-10 center who thrives on the pick-and-pop, had been Anunoby’s primary assignment for much of the series.
But Anunoby spent much of Game 5 guarding Jalen Johnson, the Hawks’ only All-Star, after the Knicks shifted Josh Hart to CJ McCollum, Atlanta’s top scorer in the series.
Johnson scored 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting Tuesday.
Anunoby tweaked his left ankle in the second-to-last game of the regular season on April 10, then sat out of the regular-season finale with the rest of the starters.
He then appeared to aggravate that injury in Game 1, stepping on McCollum’s foot before hobbling to the bench.
But Anunoby returned soon after that brief scare, then declared himself “OK” afterward.
He’s been more than OK since, which is why the Knicks are one win away from their fourth consecutive trip to the second round of the playoffs.
This is Anunoby’s third postseason with the Knicks, who acquired him in a December 2023 trade that sent former first-round picks RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley to the Toronto Raptors.