Jalen Brunson is, for the most part, a known quantity.
A good way to view the Knicks offense is that Brunson is the floor, and his supporting cast is the ceiling. A big part of that is OG Anunoby. When he is aggressive and involved offensively, it is usually a good sign for overall success.
When Anunoby scores 20 or more points this year, the Knicks are 22-4. In their past two wins, over the Grizzlies and Bulls, he scored 25 and then 31 points.
That’s the version of Anunoby the Knicks will need in the playoffs.
“I think he’s starting to fully understand his areas where he can be aggressive within the offense, within the flow of the game,” Josh Hart said after practice Sunday. “That’s one thing about Mike [Brown], Mike never tells us not to do something. He always wants us to be aggressive, he wants us to shoot shots. … He doesn’t really put limits on us, and I think OG is really starting to really understand ‘where can I be aggressive? Where can I find my spots to go score?’ He’s an efficient scorer, physical, athletic, so he’s starting to understand that.”
Anunoby’s primary role in Brown’s offense is to stay in the corners and wait for drive-and-kick 3-pointers. At times, it can limit his contributions. And Brown has vocally set the hierarchy as Brunson first, Karl-Anthony Towns second, and everyone else after that.
But having four strong scoring threats in Brunson, Towns, Anunoby and Mikal Bridges is what is supposed to make the Knicks offense dynamic. Finding a balance between accepting his role as a catch-and-shooter and actively looking to drive and get to the rim is something Anunoby and the Knicks are still, this late into the year, working on.
“When OG is aggressive, he’s hard to deal with,” Landry Shamet said Sunday. “The beauty of our team is that we have so many different options. Sometimes the ball’s just finding you. There’s a certain rhythm about things. Right now, OG is the recipient of a lot of that. When he’s in that situation and when it’s finding him, he’s being really aggressive, really decisive. He’s hard to contain when he puts his head down and drives.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo confirmed, as part of his larger comments going at Bucks management, to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Milwaukee and the Knicks engaged in talks before the season.
The Post’s Stefan Bondy reported before the season that the two teams talked about an Antetokounmpo trade, but that discussions did not go far because the Knicks believed the Bucks lacked motivation to make a deal.
The Knicks have a clean injury report for Monday’s game against the Hawks in Atlanta. Towns, after missing Friday’s game due to a right elbow impingement, is not listed.
So unless something changes, he should be good to go.
