Steve Popper: OG Anunoby is the Knicks' secret weapon against opponents big and small
New York Knicks forward Og Anunoby (8) defends Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen (31) in the 2nd quarter as New York Knicks take on the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, NY on May 21, 2026 Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
While the Knicks rested for eight days — most of it without knowing who their NBA Finals opponent would be — there was one factor that would make the outcome of the Western Conference Finals something less than fearsome.
The San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder battled to a Game 7 on Saturday night, and while patiently awaiting the winner of what most observers considered a battle of the NBA's two best teams, the Knicks could point to one player as a piece who could raise their chances against either one.
While Jalen Brunson is the captain and the engine of the Knicks and 7-footer Karl-Anthony Towns is the unique talent with the shooting and passing ability of a guard a foot shorter, the Knicks have a defensive weapon in OG Anunoby who can be matched up against any star who reaches the NBA Finals.
While the Knicks have an assortment of skilled and versatile defenders in Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, Landry Shamet, Deuce McBride and even Mitchell Robinson, Anunoby has shown the ability to guard a 7-4 unicorn in the Spurs' Victor Wembanyama and a 6-4 guard in the Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
At 6-7 with a wingspan of 7-2, Anunoby has the length to disrupt any sort of offensive player and the strength to hold his ground against the most imposing big men in the game. The statistics back it up.
No player has rated better than the 15 points per 75 possessions to which Anunoby has limited Wembanyama in his career (among players who have faced him in at least 100 possessions as the primary defender in the half-court).
The Knicks beat San Antonio twice in three meetings this season, including the NBA Cup final in December, but Anunoby's production dates even beyond that. In a Christmas Day matchup in 2024, Tom Thibodeau put Anunoby on Wembanyama for the final six minutes of a game in which Wembanyana already had piled up 42 points. In those last six minutes, he went scoreless, missing all three of his field-goal attempts.
It’s similar with Gilgeous-Alexander, who has scored only 9.2 points per 75 possessions with Anunoby as the primary defender.
Anunoby says little, but he again was disappointed this season to not be named to the NBA All-Defensive first team, settling for second-team honors for the second time in his career.
“You guys can all print this," Mike Brown said. "Great players out there. I’m not discounting anybody, but freakin’ OG got robbed. He should’ve been first-team All- Defense. First-team All-Defense.
“The versatility he brings to this team — we’re a top-five defensive team. Top-five defensive team, OK? The versatility that he brings — and everybody always says, ‘Oh, you got KAT. You got Jalen. Blah, blah, blah.’ The versatility that that guy brings to this team is off the charts, and I hope the voters get it right the next time around. I’m happy he’s second team. He deserves something, but it was wrong.”
Anunoby, who is as skilled at defending against questions as he is against high-scoring opponents, said, “Just do whatever to win. I think anyone would do whatever to win, especially at this point. Just whatever it takes to win.”
The magic is in the work — and the attitude
While Brunson has merchandise with the motto that he has lived by — "the magic is in the work'' — when he was asked about the effect that Villanova coach Jay Wright had on him, he pointed to another credo.
“One thing he always [stressed], it’s plastered on every wall, every shirt, the inside of our jerseys, everything, was attitude,” Brunson said. “Controlling your attitude. I don’t really say that as much as I used to, but I think my kind of twist on it is being able to control what you can control.
"Controlling your attitude, controlling your effort, those are the things you can control, and that’s something he said every day. That’s how we ended huddles, that’s how we started games, practices. It’s kind of what his motto was, and once we believed in it, everything became easier.”
“Man, you can tell Coach Wright has instilled a lot of great qualities in all of these guys,” Brown said of the Villanova alumni on his squad — Brunson, Hart and Bridges. “They're selfless. They all have a competitive spirit. They're all about the right stuff, and they're great human beings to be around.
"So I'm sure it wasn't just Coach Wright who helped raise them, but to be able to play for him and have that continue at the highest level while competing for championships in college definitely made my job easier. When you have guys like that and those guys are the leaders of your team, we were talking about all of them, and then it rubs off on everybody else, and it just makes for a fantastic environment to be a part of.”
Silence is golden
There was no surprise that the traditionally tight-lipped Knicks would not reveal any details of Robinson’s broken pinkie — when it happened, how it happened, when the surgery was or what the timeline is for his return. But it also was one time when the silence opened up a player to all sorts of conjecture and speculation.
On WFAN, there was a discussion about whether it might be related to the mental struggles Robinson said on social media that he's been going through. Telling the story, no matter what it is, ends the speculation.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
