Getty Deni Avdija #8 of the Washington Wizards heads for the net as Isaiah Hartenstein #55 and OG Anunoby #8 of the New York Knicks defend.
The New York Knicks have officially listed key starter OG Anunoby out for Monday’s crucial road game against the Golden State Warriors due to injury management.
Anunoby is coming off his worst shooting performance as a member of the Knicks, scoring a season-low 2 points on 1 of 8 shooting in their 98-91 win over the Sacramento Kings on Saturday, March 16. But Jalen Brunson dropped 42 points that were enough to cover up for Anunoby’s offensive futility.
Anunoby was questionable ahead of the Kings game, but he ended up starting and playing 33 minutes. However, it was his lowest minutes since the Knicks acquired him from the Toronto Raptors in a December 31 trade.
“I didn’t even know I was questionable,” he said, per the New York Post.
With his surgically repaired elbow bothering his shot, Anunoby contributed in other areas as he produced 6 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 assists and 1 steal to still finish as a net positive with plus-6.
“Just impacting the game without scoring,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters. “He’s like everywhere. OG is a basketball player. He does a little bit of everything.”
Anunoby’s elbow flared up when he went for a steal against Portland’s big man Deandre Ayton at the start of their current four-game West Coast trip on March 14.
The Knicks have been 15-2 with Anunoby in the lineup with a league-best 103.9 defensive rating. They are 8-10 without the 3-and-D wing and their defensive rating has suffered, plummeting to a bottom-10 116.3.
The Knicks lost to the Warriors 110-99 without Anunoby on February 29 at Madison Square Garden. But the Knicks have since won 5 of their last 7 games since that home loss, including the last three with Anunoby.
Jalen Brunson Doesn’t Want Knicks Teammate to Risk His Health
Brunson wants Anunoby to get his elbow right before the postseason.
“I feel like if he’s hurt, he wouldn’t play,” Brunson told reporters following Anunoby’s re-injury scare in their road win against the Trail Blazers on March 14. “I think a lot of us have mindsets like that.”
Brunson has carried the Knick’s offensive load with Anunoby hurting and struggling. The Knicks’ star point guard just became the only fourth player in the franchise history to record back-to-back 40-point games, joining Carmelo Anthony, Patrick Ewing and Bernard King.
It was Brunson’s seventh 40-point game this season.
Brunson shot 17 of 28 from the floor and 5 of 10 from deep in another scintillating performance just two nights after he torched the Portland Trail Blazers with 45 points. He added four steals, four rebounds and two assists.
Alec Burks, Bojan Bogdanovic Need to Step up Anew
Against a deep Warriors team, Brunson will need all the help he can muster especially from their veteran leaders on their bench.
Alec Burks, who was benched in the second half in their win against the Trail Blazers, rebounded against the Kings. The veteran guard scored 12 points, his first double-digit scoring over the team’s last five games.
Bojan Bogdanovic also hit timely baskets in the fourth quarter and wound up with 9 points in 24 minutes off the bench. The veteran duo acquired at the trade deadline from the Detroit Pistons combined for all but two of the Knicks’ 21 bench points.