CLEVELAND — Post-injury OG Anunoby hadn’t been quite the same as pre-injury OG Anunoby — until Saturday night.
After suffering a mild right hamstring strain in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals and missing the final two games of that series, Anunoby returned for the Eastern Conference finals.
Anunoby performed well in the first two games against Cleveland.
But in Game 3, he looked like himself, burying the Cavaliers with a fantastic performance of 21 points, seven rebounds and four assists, as the Knicks took a commanding 3-0 series lead with a 121-108 shellacking of the Cavaliers at Rocket Arena.
“Each day I started feeling better and better. We have a great medical staff,” Anunoby said. “Getting stronger each day. Great team, great coaches. It’s been very collaborative.”
In the first two games of the series, there was some rust, which should have been expected since the veteran went 12 days in between games.
Most importantly, he appears to be healthy and is impacting winning.
He came up big in overtime of the Knicks’ come-from-behind victory in Game 1, scoring six points, and was efficient in the second game, shooting 5-of-8 from the field and making two 3-pointers.
Saturday night, he was explosive, dangerous from beyond the arc and a factor in the Knicks’ strong transition game.
He was 3-of-4 on 3-point attempts.
The Knicks clearly caught a break with Anunoby’s injury.
Two years ago, he suffered a hamstring injury that led to the Knicks blowing a 2-0 series lead to the Pacers in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
This time, it wasn’t nearly as severe.
“OG was fantastic,” Brown said. “He had some timely buckets for us, play after play after play.”
Before the injury, Anunoby was playing at an incredibly high level.
He was averaging 21.4 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.9 steals and 1.1 blocks in the playoffs.
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He was also shooting a sensational 53.8 percent on 4.9 attempts from 3-point range, and the Knicks were outscoring the opposition by 20 points per 100 possessions with him on the court.
There were a number of positives in the Knicks’ 10th straight playoff victory, led by them moving to within one win of their first NBA Finals berth in 27 years.
Anunoby’s performance was near the top of the list — they need this version of him to win it all.
“OG’s playing great. Most importantly, he’s locked in,” Jalen Brunson said. “He’s doing the things we know he’s capable of. He’s looking great.”
