Overlooked OG Anunoby detail makes Knicks heroics even sweeter

Watching OG Anunoby come flying in for the offensive rebound off a Jalen Brunson missed three-pointer for the game-winning tip-in was magical. The 28-year-old became a New York Knicks legend in a matter of seconds, giving them a 3-1 lead in the 2026 NBA Finals, one win away from what would be Anunoby's second championship. The circumstances are a lot different this time around, though.

Anunoby was part of the Raptors' 2019 championship, but not in the way he would've liked after he missed the entire playoffs following emergency appendectomy surgery at the end of the regular season. He watched from the sideline as Toronto won its first title.

You can say that OG has done a pretty good job of making up for what he missed out on in 2019. It only made sense that he was the one who played hero for the Knicks on Wednesday, and that if they get to where they're going, it will be because of what he did not just in Game 4, but throughout the playoffs.

OG Anunoby is a champion, but this is technically his first NBA Finals

He's averaging 20.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.4 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game in the 2026 playoffs, shooting 57.8% from the field and 50.6% from three.

Anunoby's 33 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field and 7-of-9 from deep were a playoff career high. He had four rebounds, including the biggest offensive rebound not just of his career, but in New York history. The same goes for his block on De'Aaron Fox with 11 seconds left.

He had the game of his life, and it couldn't have come at a better moment. The Knicks have several players who can step up and rise to the occasion outside of Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, but what Anunoby dealt with seven years ago makes last night's moment even sweeter.

The basketball gods were looking out, as they were earlier in the postseason when he missed two games against the Sixers with a hamstring injury. Somehow, Anunoby came back better than ever, and it's good for the Knicks that he did.

Anunoby never could've imagined seven years ago, watching the Raptors win, that he'd be where he is now, with the Knicks, of all teams. Life has a strange way of working out sometimes, and for OG, that couldn't be truer. And to think it could be on the verge of getting even better.

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