For the second-straight game, the New York Knicks had fans on the edge of their seats but narrowly won. After a two-point Christmas Day win over the Cavaliers, the team traveled down South to play the Hawks on Saturday night. The stats say the 128-125 victory was led by star center Karl-Anthony Towns, but crunch-time was dominated by OG Anunoby. The wing recently made the case that it takes a certain kind of fan to appreciate his impact as being All-Star level. Knicks coach Mike Brown backed Anunoby up after the game, even providing reporters and fans with (at least) five reasons why.
Mike Brown says OG Anunoby has to put it all together
Anunoby struggled on offense against the Hawks, making just three of his 10 shot attempts during the game. His two-of-five 3-point shooting and seven-of-seven performance at the free throw line helped him finish with 15 points, but it was when he made some of those shots that mattered most of all.
He avenged a goaltending violation that blew a pivotal, late Knick lead with a Mitchell Robinson-esque offensive rebound with less than one minute to go in regulation. The Hawks fouled him, which sent him to the line. He returned to the free throw line shortly after, when he recorded one of his three steals and drew another foul. He made all four free throws, as well as secured the defensive rebound that effectively decided the contest.
The 38-minute outing from Anunoby was essentially perfect with regard to demonstrating how impactful he is outside of his 3-point scoring and menacing dunks inside. Despite his shooting struggles, he came up big several times in the game's biggest moments and pushed the Knicks over the finish line himself.
After the game, Brown told reporters in Atlanta that five major factors about Anunoby's game set him up to impact both ends of the floor in such major ways: even on nights when his shot isn't close to falling at a league-average rate.
“His size, his range, his strength, his athleticism, his feel. He can do so much out there, he just has to impose his will on the game every single play, and when he does there’s nothing he can’t do," the Knicks' coach declared.
It does seem like Brown was issuing Anunoby a bit of a challenge. The coach is never afraid to mention the ways in which he's pushed his players to reporters, seemingly for more than just transparency's sake. He did so early in the regular season when discussing Tyler Kolek's defensive effort, mentioning that it was currently good enough to keep him in the rotation but that he was monitoring it.
Kolek went on to be removed from the rotation before both re-entering it and going above and beyond on big stages to earn his keep.