BOSTON — Five first-round picks and $212.5 million for two wings. At first glance, it sounds like inflation.
But that’s the modern price of admission into the league’s elite — and with a 108–105 overtime win over the Celtics in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Knicks just walked through the front door.
This is a wing’s league, and the Knicks now have two of the best in the building. OG Anunoby on one side. Mikal Bridges on the other. The duo — dubbed Wingstop — anchored a stifling defensive effort that grounded the defending champs to open the second round.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined for 46 points — but it took 43 shots to get there. The All-Star duo shot a combined 14-of-43 from the field as Anunoby and Bridges hounded every touch, every cut, every closeout.
“OG was terrific. The whole game. Multiple-effort plays, that sort of thing,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said after the game. “And the same could be said of Mikal. Mikal came up with some big-time rebounds in traffic, and then the steal at the end. Whatever we have to do to find a way to win. That’s the most important thing. Don’t get wrapped up in any personal dilemmas. Or anything like that. Put the team first and just find a way to win.”
That’s what the vision was — wings who could match-up well against Boston — and now it’s beginning to materialize in real time.
The Knicks gave up R.J. Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and a coveted second-round pick for Anunoby — then had to pony up near-max money to keep him from walking in free agency. Bridges cost five first-round picks and a swap in a blockbuster with Brooklyn.
At the time, both deals raised eyebrows. Five picks are typically reserved for headliners. Two hundred twelve million usually buys you a franchise face.
But Anunoby looked like Boston’s best player on Monday night — and he doesn’t play for the Celtics. He poured in 29 points, hit 6-of-11 from three, and tormented Tatum on the other end. As for Bridges, his 3-of-13 shooting line won’t land on any highlight reels, but his imprint was everywhere else — capped by a game-sealing steal in overtime.
And a single play — an interception on Brown’s overtime kick-out pass with 3:30 on the clock, a push-ahead, and an Anunoby transition finish with the and-one on Tatum — was a full-circle moment.
The Knicks huge offseason bet on the wings delivered its biggest win of the year. Maybe even the decade.
“That’s who Mikal is. He’s got a lot of criticism and he never lets that affect him. I don’t know how many games down the stretch that he’s won for us on the defensive side alone — the Brooklyn game, the block, the Chicago game, he got a block at the end. A couple in the Detroit series. he’s been a huge part for this team,” said Knicks forward Josh Hart.
“Sometimes those things get overlooked and people just look at stats and they lose sight of how valuable a player that he is. He went out there and shot wasn’t falling but he had a big three in overtime. Plays that go overlooked. He had a back tap – Jalen ended up missing the three, but plays like that, his motor always goes. He’s a winning player. He makes winning plays. He should be celebrated for that.”
This is what Wingstop was built for: moments when the game slows down, stars rise up, and defensive stops become everything.
They did it to Cade Cunningham in Round 1. Cunningham, the Detroit Pistons All-Star who lit the Knicks up for 31 points per game in the regular season, became mortal in the playoffs: 25 points on 42.6% shooting — just 17fi from deep. He had three chances to save Detroit’s season in Game 6. Anunoby forced a miss. Bridges forced a turnover. Then Anunoby forced one final miss to end it.
The Celtics had a similar window in Game 1. With the score tied at 100 and just over three minutes left in OT, Brown tried to fire a skip pass to the corner. Bridges read it, picked it off, and triggered the break. Anunoby finished it — two points, plus the foul.
“I think the biggest challenge of the playoffs are dealing with the emotions of the playoffs. If you feel too good about yourself you won’t be ready for Game 2,” said Thibodeau. “So it’s one win and tomorrow we have to reset and get ready for Game 2. Don’t play the series, play the game. What do we have to do to win Game 2? And that’s where the focus needs to lie. So I think that’s important for us.”
The Knicks are smart to downplay the significance of Tuesday’s victory. Every player in the visitor’s locker room echoed the same sentiment after the game.
“I don’t think it builds our confidence; we always have confidence. The season is peaks and valleys,” said Hart. “If you get too high, you’re gonna get knocked down. If you get too low, you’re gonna get buried. So I think we’ve built a tremendous amount of trust in this locker room and with the coaches.
“For us to win, everybody had to play their part. And we’ll come back tomorrow and figure out to how to get another win.”
The Celtics will be back — and better — in Game 2. But the Knicks made their investment with games like this in mind. If Anunoby can make Tatum labor and Bridges keeps Brown in check, what once looked like an overpay starts to feel like a steal.
Maybe not feel. Because the Knicks just swiped Game 1, and now they believe they can do it again.
