The Knicks’ starting lineup is finally at full strength.
OG Anunoby returned to the floor on Friday against the Jazz, his first game since injuring his hamstring on Nov. 14. The forward missed nine games just when he was putting up some of the best numbers of his career.
But Anunoby picked up where he left off, scoring 11 points and assisting one in 23 minutes on Friday night. As with any game Anunoby plays, his impact goes far beyond the stat sheet. The first defensive possession for the Knicks, Anunoby forced a bad pass from Jazz forward Svi Mykhailiuk, one of many stops by the Knicks as they got off to a 23-0 start, the best in NBA history since play-by-play has been recorded (1997-98), en route to a 146-112 rout.
“I didn’t really notice it. We were just playing. Someone told us later,” Anunoby said. “I didn’t even notice they didn’t score; we were just getting stops and going. So felt pretty good just playing the way we try to play all the time.”
That good feeling extended to Anunoby’s health. He said he felt good after the game and that he missed playing with his teammates and playing for the fans. But he did not have a good time being unable to play. In those few weeks of missing action, Anunoby described his time recovering as “not fun” but still tried to help his teammates however he could.
“Just try to help in any way possible,” Anunoby said. “Be supportive, talk to my teammates, tell them what I’m seeing, and still help.”
Part of that support is watching film and pointing out little things his teammates are not doing or what teams are doing to the Knicks and trying to get them to incorporate it.
Anunoby’s 23 minutes was good, but head coach Mike Brown was hoping to extend his forward even longer, but the score dictated he empty his bench. Brown did allow Anunoby to play with the reserves as the rest sat on the bench, watching for most of the fourth quarter.
“It was tough because you always wonder… you get a big lead, you don’t want anybody to get hurt. But we needed to get OG some game minutes to work on his conditioning,” Brown explained. “He looked good for the time he was out there. I would have loved to get him 25-26 minutes, but 22-23 worked good enough, especially with the way we had the lead tonight.”
Anunoby says he’ll need just a couple of game to feel like he’s in game shape, and he’ll definitely need his conditioning when the Knicks welcome a physical Magic team to the Garden on Sunday.
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