With Jalen Brunson sidelined recovering from a right ankle sprain, the Knicks have had to replace the captain’s scoring output as a committee.
Yet two games before Brunson went down in overtime of a March 6 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, OG Anunoby had already begun making his case as New York’s third scoring option.
So it’s no surprise the versatile two-way way who inked a franchise-record five-year, $212.5 million contract over the offseason has stepped up to keep the Knicks offense from crumbling with its floor general and All-Star scorer on the shelf.
The Knicks will need more of that if they’re going to keep a firm grasp on the Eastern Conference’s No. 3 seed, but the consistency the star forward has found in the latter stretch of the season is promising for a team with deep playoff aspirations.
Entering Monday’s matchup at Madison Square Garden against the Miami Heat — the Knicks’ first game back in the city after going 2-3 on a five-game West Coast road trip — New York’s star forward scored 20 or more points in all but one of the seven games played in the month of March.
“I think he’s playing at a really high level right now, all around – both sides of the ball,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said ahead of tipoff on Monday. “And his defense has been terrific. Getting us into the open floor so there’s a lot of easy scoring opportunities that are coming from that. Shooting the ball, he is in a good rhythm right now.”
Anunoby is averaging 21.9 points per game midway through the month, up from the 16.8 points he’s averaging on the season in totality. He is shooting 40 percent from three-point range and is averaging about two steals and a block during this stretch.
It’s a stark difference from a December stretch where he logged single-digit scoring numbers five times in an eight-game span.
So what’s been the difference?
Knicks forward Josh Hart told the Daily News the team isn’t running more plays for their two-way forward. Instead, Hart said, Anunoby has been more decisive in taking advantage of the opportunities he’s gotten within the offense.
“I think he’s more aggressive,” Hart told The News ahead of tipoff on Monday. “I think he’s doing a good job of finding where to be most effective on the court, getting to those places and taking advantage of the space, the opportunity that he’s given.
“I don’t think we’re doing anything specifically or schematically. He’s making a constant effort and is being more aggressive in his box.”
There’s also the conversation regarding touches on offense. Through the four games since Brunson’s injury leading into Monday night’s matchup against the Heat, Anunoby averaged 49.8 touches per game. The number still ranks last among all five Knicks starters, but it’s up about 14 percent since Brunson’s injury.
Coincidentally, so is his scoring.
But Anunoby hit his stride before Brunson left the rotation. He scored 23 points in an overtime victory over the Miami Heat, then 29 points in a March 4 loss to the Golden State Warriors, though Karl-Anthony Towns missed that game for personal reasons.
The scoring output is a welcome sight. After all, Anunoby was billed as a shut-down defender who spaced the floor primarily as a three-point shooter before his trade from the Toronto Raptors in December, 2023.
The starting forward has proven he’s more than just a spot-up shooter in Year 2 in New York. Anunoby is comfortable putting the ball on the floor, scoring off cuts and even in the low post. He has also helped drive a Knicks team thriving in transition by getting out on the break to score off stops.
“Yeah, he’s scored in different ways,” Thibodeau said. “He’s been comfortable in the post, he moves extremely well without the ball. Obviously he’s worked really hard on his shooting and shoots the ball extremely well. His size is a factor. Getting to the line quite a bit now.”
With Brunson expected to miss at least another two weeks, the Knicks don’t have the luxury of waiting for their leader to return before finding answers.
Anunoby is showing he can be one of them.
The Knicks don’t need him to be Brunson.
They just need him to keep being this version of OG Anunoby — because it might be the key to keeping New York afloat until their captain comes back.
