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The Knicks played arguably their most complete game on Friday night against the Milwaukee Bucks and OG Anunoby’s defense was a huge reason why.
In the 116-94 beatdown, Anunoby did not allow the Bucks’ top player Giannis Antetokounmpo to get going offensively to help lift his team to a win. The two-time MVP scored 24 points on 11-of-21 shooting (52.4 percent) both down from his 31 PPG and 61.7 percent shooting average heading into Friday’s contest.
“He’s a great player so make it as hard as possible,” Anunoby said of his strategy for Giannis. “You know he’s going to score, just try to limit the scoring and also stop him from being as comfortable as he usually is.”
Head coach Tom Thibodeau said it was Anunoby’s unique combination of strength, speed and anticipation that makes him a great defender and it’s something his teammates appreciate.
That wasn’t more apparent than in the Knicks locker room after Friday’s game.
“He was good. That’s all you can ask for,” Josh Hart said. “[Giannis is] a great player, so to be able to be physical, make shots tough for him is big.”
“It looks so easy and effortless the way he’s able to do that,” Jalen Brunson said of Anunoby. “It’s the pure talent that he has. The way he’s able to guard the ball, the way he plays off the ball in situations, he’s a phenomenal piece that we have. He’s been great since he’s been here.”
Anunoby says if he can change one thing is to limit the fouls he committed. Some early foul trouble allowed Giannis to get into a bit of a groove in the third quarter, but once Anunoby came back he was cleaner and the Knicks pulled away.
Karl-Anthony Towns, the newcomer to this Knicks squad, has faced Anunoby before but is starting to see how great his new teammate is on the defensive side now that he plays alongside him.
“He’s special. He’s so special what he brings to the defensive end,” Towns said. “I’ve been in the league for a decade now. I don’t know many people who play like OG in my lifetime. One of the best defenders that I’ve seen and I played with Rudy Gobert. He’s special. I can’t say that enough.”
High praise considering Gobert is a four-time Defensive Player of the Year. But the Knicks center’s offense helped the defensive side too. He scored a game-high 32 points and dominated the game early on the offensive side to give New York a lead.
With that lead, Anunoby and the rest of the team’s defense went to work. Holding the Bucks to 43 percent shooting and forcing 12 turnovers.
Mikal Bridges, the other Knicks newcomer, did his part defensively as the primary defender of the Bucks’ No. 2, Damian Lillard. The guard scored 19 points on 6-of-15 shooting on Friday and that combination of defenders is a hallmark of Thibodeau’s Knicks teams,
“You can’t measure all the little things on every possession that [Anunoby] does. Same with Mikal,” Thibodeau said. “He takes on the primary ball-handler all game long and he keeps going. That says a lot about him.
“If we do that and everyone commits to playing defense, we can be good. We’re short-handed so we have to play hard and rebound the ball. If we do that as a team, good things will come from it.”
The win put the Knicks ended their two-game losing streak and evened their record at 4-4. They’ll travel to Indiana on Sunday to take on their rival Pacers.
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